A new divide
by Puggle-Rock
Summary: When Poppy is forced the move away from her best friend the regret in her heart begins taking it's own image and soon it's own body. Regret, with the help from the evil spirit of the ring will destroy the world and all those that oppose unless she is stopped. Will Poppy be able to stop her own regrets with help from her friends? Or will the world crumble into darkness? RyouXOC
1. Enter with a bang! New school

_Disclaimer: This is a fan-made story. Ownership rights and licensing to go: Kunihisha Sugishima, Kazuki Takahashi, Studio Gallop, Nihon Ad Systems, Magna Pacific, 4Licensing Corporation, Konami, Tokyo TV, Animax. Please support the official release._

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**Chapter One - Enter with a bang! New** **school!**

Smoke blew out from the boys' nose as him and his best friend stood outside the college in the smoking area. It was the second period of the day, but they hadn't attended; heck they didn't attend the first period. They just stood out here, at the college smoking area, watching the clouds roll by and the blue, blue sky slowly fade to a dark chilling grey.  
"It's final huh?" He said to her taking another puff from his cigarette before passing her the roll up for her drag. Taking a pull herself she blew the foul tasting smoke from her nose and nodded her head.  
"Yeah it's final. Shame to, I'm going to miss this place." The girl said to him, sadness in her voice as she passed the cigarette back, only to have him put his hand up indicating for her to finish the toxic stick.  
"I hear Japan's nice. Lots of friendly people; the town you're going to, Domino city…isn't that the place where a couple of the world's most famous duelist's live?" he asked her raising an eyebrow in question as she stubbed out the last of the cigarette and nodded her head. She wasn't much of a duelist but he was and he was good at her. He had promised to teach her but she always said she didn't really want to learn. She regretted it now.  
"That may be so but I quite like Medway, it's my home; even if it is full of under aged smokers and ten year olds getting pregnant." she said to him.  
"I can't for the life of me remember their names though. If I'm honest I hope I don't run into them. From what I can tell from the TV, they're a bit of a too friendly bunch for my liking." she said to him as he chuckled to himself. The girl was never good at remembering names, nor was she good at remembering faces. Her friend next to her was lucky that she remembered his face and name, Steven. They both looked back up again at that dark, chilling sky and sat outside the school gates for the last time. That was their last day together.

Her memories and thoughts were quickly pulled from her mind as her mother stopped the car and pinched her arm slightly.  
"We're at the school dear. Were you thinking of Medway again?" She asked her daughter, an eyebrow raised in question with a sympathetic look. The girl nodded her head to her mother. Her mother was an elderly lady in her fifties. She had blonde hair and blue eyes with a slightly chubby build from the baby fat she gathered when carrying her daughter for nine months. The woman just never lost it and it gave her that motherly feel.  
"I don't understand why we had to move so far away." She said to her mother as she sighed and dropped her head onto the car wheel once more.  
"Because Nana needs a carer now since Granddad died." She said to the rather upset girl as she nodded her head. Her daughter knew all too well the reason; she wanted to know if maybe, just maybe she'll say something different. Opening the car door and grabbing her shoulder bag, the girl threw it lazily over her shoulder.  
"I'm off. I'll see you when I get home." She said to her mother as she smiled and waved before driving away, leaving her daughter at this strange place that was now her school.

She looked down at her uniform with the same disgust look she had when she looked at it this morning. Bright pink blouse, blue tie, white shirt, blue pleated skirt and white knee socks to top it all off. That being said it seemed to suit the young girl; her brown mid back length hair complimented the contract of pink and blue. It helped to be of slim build, she was a size eleven in England, the in-between size of ten and twelve. But she did not see it as that; she felt rather cliché for hating the uniform with a passion. Starting a new school with distaste for the uniform, now all she needed to do is pretend she hated everybody or get along with everybody at an instant and she would be top of the cliché iceberg. Might as well get the day over with, try and make new friends, who knows maybe she'd meet someone interesting today; no one would be as interesting as Steven back in Medway though. He's orange spikey hair and blue eyes with a few freckles just below his eyes. He was an interesting character, the way they met was interesting and as such they just stayed as bell rung indicating it was time to start school, she didn't even have time to have a fag to try and calm herself down. Walking towards the school in a mass of bodies she felt the lump in her throat of nervousness show its face. Shaky, sweats, knees weak, the girl actually felt scarred to enter the school.

She had followed the teacher to the classroom once she got lost enough to ask for help. He told her to wait outside so that she may introduce herself. She leaned against the wall, fiddling nervously with her hair. She had dyed her hair so much it was no longer able to go back to its original colour of blonde. Now it grew back brunette but she dyed it red; it suited her better. The door opened making her snap her head up and look at who opened the door. It was the teacher, a kind smile on his face as he indicated with his head to follow him to the front of the classroom. She obeyed and followed the man to the front, turned on her heel and faced the rest of the class.  
"This is Mason Poppy. She's a new student from England. Poppy, why don't you introduce yourself?" The man questioned as she looked at him as if he grew a second head. Facing the class once more Poppy swallowed that lump in her throat; well tried to, swallowing made it worse.  
"My name is Poppy. I don't understand much Japanese." She said to them leaving it at an almost cliff hanger like sentence. She was dumbstruck for words; Poppy didn't know what else to say as in introduction. Sure she could tell her age, but it wasn't that hard to guess. She was a final year student like them, which made her eighteen. It wouldn't have been much of a guessing game. The teacher allowed her to take her seat. Poppy was placed next to a white haired boy with brown eyes. He's eyes were stunning, but maybe that was because the white hair complimented them so well. She learnt from the past that a stunning look can hide an ugly personality and thought it best to stay clear of him. He looked at her and smiled with a slight wave of his hand. Poppy was polite and waved back slightly with a small smile. No point in being rude on the first day.

To say the first periods were…the norm was an understatement. Poppy had remained quiet, unspoken to, and maybe a tad distant from times which may have made me come off a bit rude to some. She had a lot on her mind and a lot of things to think back to. She had missed Medway; she had missed messing about with Steven back in college. Her mother made her attended the school, said it was better to regain some knowledge that she had lost due to skipping the last two years of secondary school. Both her and Steven did and yet they still managed to get into college, guess being a sparky(1) didn't require that might thought secondary school smarts.

She had packed her own lunch and stayed at her desk to eat it. Salad sandwiches and squash, Poppy was happy with what she had. Some of the other students either brought their food from the local store or had these boxes filled with all sorts of smells and food in them. She wasn't sure what they called.  
A shadow loomed over her desk as she took a sip of her drink from the water bottle it was in. Looking up with the sports bottle in her mouth she saw it was the boy with white hair and brown eyes. He's uniform was buttoned all the way to the top, it looked ironed.  
"I believe we were seated next to each other. Mind if I join you?" He asked her politely. Poppy nodded her head and waited for him to be seated. He sounded British; he couldn't hide the accent even if he tried.  
"My names Ryou Bakura but my friends call me Bakura. You're Poppy Mason right?" he asked the girl, taking his seat whilst taking out one of those strange boxes that some of the other students had. Poppy nodded her head once again, not daring to take her blue eyes off him for a second. He seemed rather friendly; surely he had other friends to go and talk to instead of her…right? Thinking back to his name it was rather Japanese for someone who sounded so British.  
"Your accent is British. You come from Britain to?" She asked him raising an eyebrow in slight question. He nodded his head with a small smile on his face.

He was about to speak once more until more people came into the room and shouted his name making him turn his head.  
"There ya are! We thought we lost ya. Hey who's the girl?" A rather loud and slightly dumb sounding boy asked. He was familiar though. Actually now that Poppy thought about it they were all rather familiar. Had she seen them before?  
"She's the new girl in my class. Her name is Poppy Mason." Ryou or Bakura or whatever he wanted to be called said. She kept an eye on the lot.  
"Well why doesn't she join us all for lunch?" The short one with large purple eyes said. Ryou turned his head towards her as she shook her head.  
"The offer's nice, but I think I'll go and standout for a while. See you in class Ryou." She said to him, packing her things back into her shoulder bag and standing up, lazily swinging the bag onto her shoulder.

In all honesty Poppy had no intentions on getting to know them. She something about them just seemed to put her off getting to know them. Poppy walked outside the classroom and school building whilst digging through her bag for my cigarettes. Oh yes, the bad habit that will surely kill her early. It was a stress relief at the moment with a new school. Walking out of the school gates her turned the corner and leaned against the stone pillar that held the large metal gates. Popping the brown end into her mouth she light the stick and took a big drag then exhaled the smoke through her mouth. Poppy crossed her arms over her chest. She wondered how Steven was. His mother went missing shortly before she broke the news that she might have to move to a different country. Poppy wondered if she was found. His mother was like a second mother to her; kind but stern. She believed in discipline and a lot of it. Steven used to joke about being beaten by his mother when they were in class. She chuckled to herself; he had said that to the teacher when they were in Primary school together; before they knew each other. She recited the words to herself in her mind. The teacher had asked him "Why are you so well behaved Steven?" By which he replied with a big smile on his face "because mummy beats me twice a day!" Social services was called that day to the school along with Steven's mother who was embarrassed and confused as she wondered why her little boy had proclaimed she beat him. It took a long time to explain to the teacher. That was the day they had met.

Taking the final drag she stubbed out the cigarette on the wall behind her before walking over to the bin and throwing the butt away. Poppy looked back to the school, did she want to go back? Not really. The brunette haired girl decided to skip the rest of the day; she'd make up some lame excuse that she was ill and had taken herself off home. Walking to the edge of the road she looked both ways before crossing only to hear a loud beeping noise. Poppy snapped her head at the beeping as if a deer caught in the head lights only to be struck down moments later. She wasn't sure who had struck her or what, just that it was black and loud. She felt her body tumble over the top of the car before landing on the road once more, her head hitting the tarmac pretty hard. Her vision was blurred as she saw someone get out with the cries of someone speaking. They sounded distant to her, but in reality they were merely a few inches away. The last thing she heard was "O hit her!" before her vision went black and she slipped into a dark world of quietness.

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Sparky(1) - A slang in the British language for electrician.

ROMANCE PICK - Pick who you would like to see the love interest as! If you leave a review than please also leave who you would like the see the love interest as. This will be a majority vote. Keep in mind Poppy is eighteen (so no picking Mokuba, sorry!)


	2. Waking up

_Disclaimer: This is a fan-made story. Ownership rights and licensing to go: Kunihisha Sugishima, Kazuki Takahashi, Studio Gallop, Nihon Ad Systems, Magna Pacific, 4Licensing Corporation, Konami, Tokyo TV, Animax. Please support the official release._

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The room was silent. Only a few figures stood in it, one of which sat on the very end of the bed with his legs crossed and shoes off. Of course, the doctors and nurses would be horrified to see what the orange haired boy was doing but that was the least of his concerns. He stared at his friend with deep concern through his blue eyes as the other figures in the room just stared in concern. The bright headed lad didn't know who these people were people she knew? It didn't matter to him at the moment.  
"Hey man, da doctors gonna be mad if he sees you sitting on the bed like dat." One of them spoke, making him shift his sharp eyes onto the voice. It was the blonde haired one, the one that tried to beat his taxi driver to death despite not knowing the girl.  
"Yeah why don't you sit in a chair?" Another spoke, female this time. Her voice rang through his ears, it was hard to ignore. He stayed silent though before turning his eyes back onto his friend. He's taxi hit her; hard. He didn't know who it was at first until he saw a body land on the floor. He could remember that well and would do so for as long as he lived. The way she hit her head onto the tarmac, the way her body was limp and lifeless when he picked her up whilst repeatedly yelling "I'm sorry" through sobbing. It will always be forever real for him. It didn't help that they were here…..who were they to her anyway?

But back in the young woman's mind was darkness. Nothing but black. The only comfort was that she didn't hurt here, in the depths of this darkness that she could only assume was her mind. The brunette looked around, was she dead? No, no if she was surely she wouldn't see even this darkness. Her blue eyes squinted; nothing.  
"I am alone here…..I don't like it…..It's petrifying." She said quietly to herself. The brunette was claustrophobic, even dark spaces seemed small.  
"Don't make assumptions girl it'll only get you killed." Said another voice. It wasn't soothing, no it was the opposite. It was dark, threatening. She couldn't help but fall to her knees and pulling her head down with her hands to try and block out the voice. Her actions didn't anger it, no; it made it laugh, a blood chilling laugh.  
"Well aren't you pathetic in the dark. And to think we're one of the same, Poppy." Said the voice making its way to her. It grabbed Poppy by the wrist and dragged her up, her hand tightly wrapped around the girls' wrist so she couldn't get away. Fear struck Poppy face, maybe it was the darkness that was making her more scarred, but she wanted out either way.  
"I'm every regret you've ever felt. You have a lot for someone at barely adult age. So much so that I could take on a human presence right now and make chaos. But we're not alone." She said to her, dragging her closer to her so their faces were barely apart.

Poppy got a good look at her face, and almost pulled back in disgust. It was crooked, a crooked smile and blood shot eyes. Regret had an ugly face, her hair was knotted, and her blue eyes were glazed over as if she was a China doll, a China doll without the peaceful charm. Poppy looked at her fearfully as she smirked the most crooked smirk the brunette had ever witnessed before being dropped. She dare let out a sound, fearful of the regret that was standing in front of her. This….creature dropped down so that she was balancing on the balls of her feet with her arms around her legs. Unlike Poppy who was fully clothed, regret was naked. The regret tilted her head at an angle, her face pleasantly calm, but horrific at the same time.  
"I'm going to leave you alone for a while and let your regrets grow. The more they grow the more powerful I get. And you, you my dear Poppy; are not able to keep your regrets under check." She said to her before standing up straight, a cruel smirk on her face.  
"We'll see each other again very soon." She said to her, her voice chilling and cruel, her smirk blood freezing, her face almost cracked like.

The girl's eyes shot open as she shot up straight, her breathing heavily. What was that? A dream? It felt so real. She took a quick glance at her wrist, it didn't bruise, but it felt so real. She thought she was alone at last until she felt a weight on her. Poppy's instincts told her to put her arms behind her to stop her falling, which she did.  
"You're OK! I'm so sorry!" Said a boy through almost unheard sobs. Her eyes widened slightly, she knew that voice; that smell of cigarettes and cologne mixed and tangled together. It couldn't be could it?  
"Steven?" She asked, raising an eyebrow in question but this hurt to do. It made her wince. She felt a nod. Why was Steven here? Looking around Poppy saw the others. It was people she met briefly at school, why were they here?  
"Why are you here?" She asked them, confusion clear in her voice.  
"We watched what happened and wanted to make sure you're OK." Said the short haired boy with concern in his voice. Why did he care so much? He barely knew her.  
"You barely know me." She said to him in response, the weight on her not letting her go anytime soon but instead just burying it's head between her shoulder and neck.  
"Well we can start now can't we?" Said a brunette boy with a large spike on his head. Not the best time to be making friends but what other time could be better.  
The weight let her go and sat back at the bottom of the bed again, dragging something out of her hair.  
"Some kind of parade?" He asked her raising an eyebrow as she shrugged, looking at the colourful piece of paper. It hurt to shrug.  
"That was from the Battle City tournament that Kaiba held a few weeks ago. Guess the streets weren't cleared yet." Said the brown haired woman, who smiled warmly at the brunette. Poppy still couldn't use to her voice and looking at Steven neither could he. She looked around a little bit, the white haired boy who she came to know as Ryou was sitting on the sofa just watching her silently. That was two people she knew at least. She looked back at the others once again, Steven still picking bits of colourful paper out of her hair.  
"So do you regularly follow the injured after watching them to make friends or is this first?" She asked them the question in her voice noticeable.  
"I asked them to come. You're my class mate so I wanted to make sure you were fine. After we saw you hit and ran down stairs to see you unconscious I asked them to come with me to the hospital to make sure you were OK." Said Ryou, finally speaking up and standing up, walking over slightly. She nodded her head and looked at Steven. She didn't really want them to introduce themselves; she planned to put it off for as long as possible.  
"Why are you here Steven?" She asked him as he finished taking the last bits out of her hair. He sat back down once more.  
"A few days after you left, London held the United Kingdom duel tournament. I joined and reined victories as the new national champion, which now allows me entry to mini tournaments in other countries. As such, I am here for a mini tournament." He said to her, smirking at his victory. She couldn't help but smile with a small chuckle, although even so much as chuckling hurt her lungs and ribs making her cough.

The blonde was about to speak up until a nurse came into the room with some paper.  
"I'm just here to make sure Miss Mason can go home. If you excuse me." She said to them as Steven slid himself off the end of the bed. He put on his red converse and walked over next to Bakura, purely for the fact that he was her class mate.

"Can we introduce ourselves now? You have been putting it off." Said the annoying blonde as the rather large group exited the hospital and walked down the road. Poppy stood next to Steven, her side near the wall. She nodded her head.  
"If you must." She said to them as they walked into the park to rest. Walking hurt, it stung, it ached, it made her body want to quit for a while. She had to rest, although she still wasn't sure why Steven said sorry. To be honest, it didn't bother her. She forgave him for anything he did; they were close like brother and sister.  
"Well I'm Joey, number one duelist in da world! Dis is Teá and dis is Tristan. Da little guy is Yugi and you know Bakura." He said, pointing to him then each person he introduced. Poppy nodded her head at each one. They seemed like a friendly bunch, names rang a bell but not enough for her to care.  
"Guess I have to introduce us. I'm Poppy Mason and this is my friend, Steven Birmingham." She said, pointing her head towards Steven who held his hand out to shake the others.  
"Are you guys entering the mini tournament?" He asked them with a questioning tone, shaking Bakura's hand last. Joey and Yugi nodded their heads whilst the others did not. He nodded his head in return.

Poppy looked up slightly, thinking back to her dream, or nightmare or whatever it was. The unsettling thing that happened earlier. "We'll see each other again very soon." It sent chills down her spine, when was soon? Was it today? Was it tomorrow, the next hour or so or the next year? Soon could be any time. Poppy jumped out of her thoughts when she heard a voice.  
"Are you OK?" Asked a calm voice, almost of childish manner. She looked down to her side and nodded her head.  
"Just thinking Yugi, thank you for the concern though." She said to him, before looking back at Steven. She worried about him. Sure he was a duelist, but his story didn't make sense to her. With his mother missing he wouldn't just up and leave the country to do a tournament, did something happen between him and his dad? Was his mother found? So many questions she wanted to ask but didn't. She liked the company right now. The bright haired lad was happy talking to the others over duelling and over interests; she didn't want to take that away from him. Not when he wasn't very stable minded himself. She looked back Yugi and noticed the gold pyramid around his neck.  
"Hey Yugi….what is that?" She asked him in a whisper, not too sure how well he was with speaking about it in public even though he wore it so proudly. The short man shifted his weight slightly, did she make him uncomfortable? He wondered if he should tell her, the others he told just laughed and thought he was mad. Everyone but his friends. He decided to trust the brunette.  
"It's called a millennium item. Inside it is an ancient spirit of a pharaoh. He helps us save the world when it's needed…..You think I'm crazy don't you?" he asked her, eyes almost sad as if knowing the answer. Poppy couldn't help but shake her head, she was into history and what she just saw…..maybe it was possible.  
"I like history. Egyptians did crazy things, so anything's possible with them." She said to him with a small smile. He smiled back as they talked about things in general.

He learnt she didn't duel and didn't plan on learning. Poppy learnt that his grandpa owned a game shop. She still wasn't very chummy with him, but maybe she could grow to accept him as a friend. The brunette leant herself against Steven's side, who shuffled slightly so that his elbow was laying lazily on her shoulder, his arm bent at the shoulder so his hand just slightly touched her back. Public leaning post, that's what he was at the moment, and the same with her. She was one to, but for him, her best friend and brother.

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ROMANCE PICK - Pick who you would like to see the love interest as! If you leave a review than please also leave who you would like the see the love interest as. This will be a majority vote. Keep in mind Poppy is eighteen (so no picking Mokuba, sorry!) Only two more chapters until it's automatically decided!


	3. A dark past

_**Warning: **__Something in this chapter may distress readers, I am not to be held responsible for the distress you feel….you have been warned._

_Disclaimer: This is a fan-made story. Ownership rights and licensing to go: Kunihisha Sugishima, Kazuki Takahashi, Studio Gallop, Nihon Ad Systems, Magna Pacific, 4Licensing Corporation, Konami, Tokyo TV, Animax. Please support the official release._

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The talking on went for hours, it was as if old friends had a good catch up session. Poppy still didn't know if she should actually trust them though; after all she did wake up with them all in her hospital room just because they watched the whole thing happen. Her thoughts went back to the happily talking red head though. The last thing he would want to do was leave the country with his mother still missing even if it was for a tournament, so…why did he leave?  
"Oh, check your phone by the way Poppy. It was either ringing or a text message." Steven said to her, looking over his shoulder slightly. She nodded her head and dragged it out from her school bag that she left lying in a mess next to her. It sure hurt to move, she would need to look at the doctors and nurses report a little more in detail once she got home. Flipping the phone open she read the message out loud to herself.  
"I heard what happened sweety. I'm sorry I couldn't get to the hospital. Grandma had a bad fall and is currently bed bound. Her Dementia has gotten worse since last night, she doesn't remember who I am at the moment…..I'll be spending the night with her to help her remember be if she doesn't in the morning. Be good honey! Xxx" She read quietly. The others must have been listening as they were quiet. Steven shifted so that his chin was resting on top of her head and reading the text below.  
"So…grandma's in pretty bad shape huh?" He asked her as the brunette nodded her head and closed her phone once more before shoving it back into her bag. She looked at the others, an apologetic look on her face.  
"I think I better go home. I got to feed the dog." She said to them, standing up. Her stance was wobbly.  
"Alright, I'll walk you home. Be nice to see where you leave now anyway." Steven said, following suit and standing. He stretched his arms above his head and yawned. Must have been a long day for him. She nodded her head and looked at the others.  
"Did you guys want to come? You have spent the afternoon with us." She asked them raising an eyebrow, although this hurt to do too. Come to think of it she didn't know how beat up she looked, just knew that everything was sore. They nodded their heads and proceed to follow their new found friend to her home.

Once there, Poppy was greeted by a big fluffy mess of a hound jumping up and knocking her down, making her inhale deeply and suddenly out of pain. She pushed the fur off of her and rubbed its head once sitting up, a small smile on her face.  
"Nice to see you home to Gin." She said to the Shepard who just licked her face before walking away into the house again. He always sat himself by his food bowl to indicate he was hungry.  
"Are you OK? That looked painful." Said Tristan, worry in his voice. Poppy nodded her head, if anything she had slightly worse pain but that was her affair.  
"Yeah I'm fine. He always does it, naughty boy." She said as walked into the house before stepping aside to let the others do the same. They took off their shoes and walked into the house. It was of average size, quite neat and tidy, it was just her, her mother and Gin after all. There was one family photo sitting on the side table that her mother sat to read the paper or a book. Teá spotted it and walked over, picking up the frame gently and having a good look. It showed a much younger Poppy, she had short blonde hair in pig tails, a younger version of her mother, and a man that she had not mentioned or even spoke of.  
"Wow, is this what your mum and dad looks like?" She asked her, a smile on her face as she looked over to Poppy who leaned against the wall as they looked at her home, digging through her bag. She looked up and nodded her head slightly. Joey walked over and looked over his friends shoulder, pointing to the man.  
"Who's da guy?" he asked in a dumb way.  
"My father." She said plainly and dryly, wanting to get off the subject.  
"What time do you walk the dog?" Yugi asked getting off the subject sensing the distress in her voice. Steven only stayed quiet as he stroked the dog's head. He knew all too well why she was bitter about the man in the photo, but decided it was her own affair; it would be better for her to explain if she so chose to later on in life. Poppy looked at him and thought to herself.  
"About an hour after his eaten, I better do that now actually before it turns too dark to walk him." She said, giving a small thankful smile to the child like boy who nodded with a smile in return. He was nice, she'd give him that; had a sense of people's distress. That might have had something to do with his item around his neck though.

Once the dog was fed Poppy walked back into the main room and tapped Steven's shoulder. He was talking to Bakura. Turning his head slightly she nodded her head in the direction of the dining room with him nodding his head. She wanted to speak to him in private. He gave his apologies to Bakura who told him not to worry about it before following his friend to the dining room. She closed the door behind them and turned to face the red head.  
"So….has your mother been found? I know you wouldn't leave the country if she wasn't." She asked him, raising an eyebrow in question. His face darkened, hands in fists and trembling as he looked down.  
"Dad, h…he killed her! And I killed him in cold blood. I…I…I couldn't control myself! I head him speaking on the phone, bragging how he did it. It was like I wasn't myself. One minute I was glaring at his back, the next…..the next…..the next he was on the floor in a pool of his own blood. I…I didn't mean to, I'm not a bad person anymore!" He said to her, voice breaking through hidden efforts to try and hide his sobbing. Poppy furrowed her brows slightly. His mental health must have gotten worse quite quickly after she left, and finding out that news wouldn't have helped. She walked up to him, putting a hand on her shoulder.  
"I know that part of our lives is behind us…You can stay here. But don't tell anyone else of what you have done." She said to him, a sympathetic look on her face trying to comfort her sobbing friend. She did things that she wasn't proud of, some of them she regretted deeply and tried to repent for by taking her own life. She bared the scares to show it. He nodded his head, rubbing his eyes with the sleeve of his hoodie.  
"Try to calm yourself down. I'm going to walk the dog in a few minutes, you don't have to come." She said to him, a smile on her face. He nodded his head once more. Poppy left him to his thoughts. She knew he wasn't dangerous but, along with what that thing she saw in her head a few hours ago didn't comfort her. He bared the same regrets, some maybe heavier than hers. Exiting the dining room and grabbing the leash for Gin she turned to the group.  
"I'm going to walk Gin. Did anyone feel like accompanying me?" She asked them, raising an eyebrow slightly.  
"I'll go with you." Said Yugi as he stood up. Poppy nodded her head and turned to the rest of the group.  
"He's a big dog and sometimes requires two people to handle him if his been left on his own all day. Feel free to play on the games station, but don't break it, I don't have any spare parts." She said to them as they nodded their head.

Poppy was right about Gin needing two people sometimes. He was pulling this evening, and quite hard. Yugi had to grab part of the long leash to help keep him back. He didn't mean harm; he was just a powerful dog. The night was quiet, the tapping of their shoes could be heard as well as the patting of Gins pads.  
"You're into fantasy and stuff alike right?" She asked her smaller companion. He nodded his head with a questioning look.  
"In the hospital, I saw something much darker. It looked like me, but it was crooked and twisted, an essence of pure evil. It said it lived off my regrets…..how likely is something like that to become a psychical being?" She asked him, not daring to look at the boy. He stayed silent with thought. Poppy thought maybe she had made him think he was crazy. She was about to open her mouth until he spoke up.  
"The spirit in the puzzle thinks it could happen. If it does though we'll be ready for it." He said to her. It made her spirits rise slightly. That was good. She looked at the ground; Gin was sniffing at some of the paper that was left on the floor from the Battle City Tournament.  
"You say that quickly. Would you think the same if you knew of the regrets I carried?" She asked him, not daring to look at him. Before he could open his mouth a small boy with black hair came running over shouting Yugi's name.  
"Mokuba! What are you doing here?" He asked the boy who looked between the two.  
"Nothing really…..Actually I was just coming back from a friend's house. Roland offered to come pick me up but I wanted to walk." The boy said. He had long black hair and grey eyes. He looked about thirteen.  
"Who are you with?" He asked the tri-coloured lad who looked up at Poppy before looking back at Mokuba.  
"Oh right, this is Poppy Mason. She's a class mate of Bakura's. I'm just helping her walk the dog." He said to the young boy who nodded his head and looked at the dog. Gin was sitting on the ground calmly.  
"Can I pet him?" He asked Poppy who raised an eyebrow before nodding her head. Gin loved fuss; he rolled over for his belly to be scratched. Poppy couldn't help but chuckle whilst looking at the sky. She was still in her uniform and it was dark. That blue sky from earlier had become a dark sheet filled with stars and moonlight.  
"We better get back." Poppy said to Yugi as Gin rolled over once more and stood up.  
"Can I come? Please?" The young boy asked. Poppy shifted her weight slightly. She already had quite a few people in her home, did she really want anymore. In the end, she shrugged her shoulders and said sure, why not. The three begun making their way back to her house. Yugi and the others would probably have to stay round tonight, it was dark; Poppy didn't like letting people go home once it was dark unless they lived reasonably close.

Once home, she let the dog off the leash, who trotted happily into the living room and jumped onto the couch. By the sounds of it he sat on several people as there were various grunts coming from the sofa. They took off their shoes. Poppy let the two boys enter the house first.  
"Hey guys!" Proclaimed the young boy as he walked into the living room. Poppy followed, she saw that Steven, Tristan. Teá and Bakura were playing on Little Big Planet. Must have been their turns.  
"Mokuba! Where's rich boy?" Joey asked him, looking at the boy.  
"Seto's at home working." He said with a sad look on his face as Joey called him "rich boy". The brunette assumed that the young lad didn't like it when people called this Seto bloke "rich boy". Poppy wondered how they could quite easily make themselves at home. She sighed slightly as she coughed slightly to gain their attention.  
"It's quite late. I think you may have to stay here tonight, do you guys mind?" She asked them, shifting awkwardly. Poppy wasn't used to social gatherings, it was always just her and Steven during anything. Just the two of them that was all they had apart from their parents.  
"Of course not, that just means we can walk to school together." Teá said handing the control over to Yugi. Poppy nodded her head and looked at Mokuba with an eyebrow raised.  
"You said Seto was at home working? I'm assuming his a family member….is he able to pick you up? I don't think he'll be too happy with you staying over a person's house you just met." She said to him, although her reasoning was not too great. He shook his head.  
"I'll just say I'm staying at Yugi's." He said as she sighed. The kid seemed slightly bossy. She didn't feel like much of an argument to be honest and just wanted to read through the doctor's notes.  
"Alright. Just make sure to call him. There's food in the fridge and some in the freezer. Make sure to write down what you used up so I can restock it." She said to them, walking over to her dis-guarded bag and dragging out the doctors notes.

Sitting on the floor with her legs crossed she winced slightly. She had forgotten how sore she was when walking Gin that the pain started to become a problem now. Poppy read the through hand written notes, taking in every last detail. Some head trauma, she'll get a letter through the post soon with an appointment to make sure nothing in the head was fractured or bleeding. A couple of broken ribs and bruising on the organs. Other than that she was OK. The broken ribs and organ bruising certainly explained why she was in so much pain. The head trauma explained why it felt like her head would explode with a little movement.

The gang had rung the various people they needed to call. Mokuba looked somewhat sad, this Seto guy must have yelled at him for staying around someone's house on such short notice. Poppy had disappeared out of the room and returned with various blankets. She also had to dig through her entire wardrobe to find various sleep wear suitable for everyone. She was lucky she had so many pairs of night shorts and wife beater tops. The brunette was very plain in her night wear, so it was nothing exciting. She would sleep downstairs tonight with her guests; it was only polite. They took turns playing Little Big Planet until Mokuba had nodded off, resting his head on Gin who was happily crashed out on the floor.  
"We should probably sleep too. We have school tomorrow as well." Bakura said with them nodding in agreement. Poppy yawned and stretched her arms above her head. Steven turned off the system with Poppy putting a blanket onto Mokuba and Gin then turning off the lights then finding her own makeshift bed. She thought to herself; she was glad she met these people today. Closing her eyes she let herself fall into a deep sleep, hopefully a calm one if she was lucky.

She was back in that dark room once more. No matter how much she wished never to be back she was. The brunette wasn't as lucky as she had hoped. The room was the same as earlier, dark, nothing visible directly in front of her. It felt chilly, it made her blood turn cold and her body shiver as she crouched down with her hands on her head and head facing the floor. Laughter was heard once more, that laughter, that painful, ear bleeding laughter she hadn't forgotten about. She knew who it was. It was regret that was what Poppy had come to call her anyway. She could hear her footsteps as she walked closer before stopping and crouching down herself, balancing on the balls of her feet with her arms wrapped around her legs once more. Head tilted with that crooked smirk on her face.  
"My my. Don't want to be alone right now? Is that why you actually let these people stay tonight? Let's put some light onto the subject." She said, clicking her fingers. Suddenly there was light. The room was still cold and blood chilling. The light only gave that, light. Poppy looked up, she could see her more clearly. She looked exactly like her, but with sinister features and a crooked smirk. Blood shot eyes stared down at her.  
"You don't usually let people stay. You must be really afraid of me. In fact, you even asked that Yugi kid what he thought about me….want to get them prepared? You really are pathetic." She said to her, grabbing her hair and pulling her up. Poppy grabbed regrets wrist to lessen the strain that was now on her head. It might be a dream, but it felt very much real.  
"Let's see a bit of your past…yes yes lets. I want to pick a good one to show people what you were like as a child when I make an entrance." She said, moving her other hand up behind her, creating a circle with faded edges. It showed her at the age of six with Steven who was also six at the time. Poppy had something held down as Steven smacked it continuously with a stick that was turning bloodier and bloodier with every strike. Whimpers could be heard as well as cruel laughter.  
"It stopped moving…" Said the younger Poppy with disappointment in her voice. Her big blue eyes looking at the creature lying on the floor in a pool of it's own blood. They had done something terrible. The younger Steven raised an eyebrow slightly and dropped the bloodied stick, before picking up the poor creature by the scruff of the neck.  
"That's not a lot of fun…let's hide it otherwise the adults will find it." He said as Poppy nodded in agreement. The Poppy who was watching could feel her stomach turn as she looked at the creature that stayed lifeless being held by the scruff of its neck. She remembered what it was; it was the neighbours' puppy that somehow got into Steven's yard. They had brought it home the day before. Steven raised the idea when he found it to teach the neighbours a lesson of not letting their dog run loose in the garden. She agreed to his ideas. She remembered what they did with the body; they threw it down a construction ditch and ran for their lives so no one saw. This behaviour continued for several months to a year. Poppy remembered it all too well. Regret finished rising that part of her past and turned to Poppy, a smirk on her face.  
"See how much fun you had? But you regretted that later on in life and tried to make up for it. You even went as far as to try and take your own life and failed. Was taking that animals life easy because it couldn't defend itself? You really are a rotten girl." It said to her, laughing once more before dropping her. Poppy was too scared to talk and looked at her.  
"Did you know killing an animal is the first signs of a killer? Your friend Steven has killed his dad already, how many more do you think he'll kill before he comes after you?" She asked her, bringing her face close to hers so they were mere inches apart. Poppy remained silent as regret tilted her head slightly and brought her head back once more.  
"I'll leave you for now. I'm sure there are much darker things you've done but it'll take time to dig them up." She said, turning on her heel and leaving Poppy on the floor in the lit room.

Poppy bolted upright after her dream or nightmare and looked at the others. They were gone. She raised an eyebrow slightly and got up herself walking into the kitchen. They were there eating some toast as she didn't have cereal. She looked at Mokuba who was talking to Yugi about duel monsters.  
"You will need dropping off at school right? Go and get yourself washed, we can drop you off on our way in." She said to him, pointing her head upstairs to where her bathroom resided. One by one the others did the same, getting themselves ready for the school day. Before they left Poppy looked at Steven who was getting ready to take Gin out for a walk.  
"I'm going to try and find a part time job. Sure there's this mini tournament, but I still need money as well." He said to her smiling slightly as she nodded her head. With any luck Steven would be able to get a job as a sparky somewhere. She wanted a job herself, more so if her mother was going to be stayed at her grandmothers most nights. Something kept nagging her in the back of her mind. Steven, regret told her that it would only be a matter of time before Steven came after her….would he? They were best friends; surely he wouldn't come after her! Poppy felt almost certain, but that nag in the back of her head made it hard for her to believe he wouldn't. She needed to talk to someone…anyway! So far, the best person to confine in was Yugi, she wondered if she should bring the subject up with him. If she did though, how would Steven take it?

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End of chapter three! Sorry that was actually a little darker than the others. Only one more chapter to go before a love interest is picked automatically! Who will it be? Make sure to PM or review with your answer!


	4. A plea for redemption

_Sorry I haven't updated for a long time! Been busy with coursework, apprenticeship nearly over and I'm looking for a part time job as I'm off to college to study my First Diploma in IT, fun fun!_

Disclaimer: This is a fan-made story. Ownership rights and licensing to go: Kunihisha Sugishima, Kazuki Takahashi, Studio Gallop, Nihon Ad Systems, Magna Pacific, 4Licensing Corporation, Konami, Tokyo TV, Animax. Please support the official release.

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The walk to school was interesting; these people sure were a talkative bunch, more so than Poppy had realized last night. What amazed Poppy even more was how fluent their English was, was it compulsory to learn English in Japan? She didn't know, nor if she was honest with herself did she care that much. They dropped Mokuba off to school with a wave and a see you later. Poppy noticed a black limo by the school, she raised an eyebrow slightly. Was a kid rich here? If so why weren't they coming out of the car? She shook off the thought, it was probably nothing to worry about and something she should keep her nose out of.

They got to Domino High shortly afterwards, that black limo was there again. She shook it off, it was probably nothing then pure luck that the people who owned that limo were siblings or friends or whatever relationship they had. She felt a poke on her shoulder which jogged her thoughts back to the group she was with.  
"We got to go to class. So we'll meet up with you and Bakura later." Yugi said in a childlike manner. Poppy nodded her head, remaining quiet and followed the white haired British student to their class room. It was wise to stick with him; he would know where everything was. That and they were classed together for the year.  
"So, where did you live before you came here?" She heard the British accent ask her. Poppy looked at him, should she tell him? The stories of what she and Steven did were pretty known in Medway; was it wise?  
"London. More so Northolt, so the outskirts of London really." She lied through gritted teeth. Lying was not her best trait, she couldn't do it anymore; pro when she was young but now it was obvious. Ryou raised an eyebrow slightly; did he know she was lying? Poppy did the same back as they walked in silence.  
"I see. Well I lived in London too, more so the central part.(1)" He said back to her with a calming smile. Poppy couldn't help but smile back slightly, she felt bad for lying, but she didn't want to say where she lived originally. Saying that, her introduction the day before couldn't be further from shady even if she tried.

The day went by quickly much too Poppy's delight. She followed Ryou to the cafeteria with small talk being exchanged. He told her he was into duelling, but not that much and took it up more so after he saw Yugi duel. Poppy said to him she didn't duel, nor did she have the intention to duel which was replied with "well, if you change your mind I'll teach you." All the brunette could do was smile and laugh slightly; she told Steven she didn't want him teaching her so he would probably take it the wrong way if she allowed Ryou to. She sighed to herself, everything just seemed so odd to her right now. The brunette felt a vibrate in the rim of her skirt and raised an eyebrow slightly. Ryou looked at her oddly with a questioning eyebrow raised. Poppy looked at him with the same confusion as she flipped open the phone and saw who it was from. Steven. Now that was even more confusing to her. Her eyes widened as her hand by natural reaction dropped her phone with her eyebrows furrowed. It slammed against the ground as Ryou picked it up and looked at the text himself. The text read "Gin's gone! I don't know where he just ran off! I tried calling for him and he won't come back!" Poppy just shook slightly on the spot as she looked at where the phone had been in her hand with her eyes wide.  
"Hey guys. Poppy you alright?" Asked Tristan as the group walked up to them. She just stayed quiet, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. Some people might have said he was just a dog, but as far as Poppy was involved that dog was family to her, the house would be empty without him…..she needed to find him. Poppy grabbed the phone out of Ryou's hand before shoving it into the rim of skirt once more before running out of the school building.

It had been days since the group saw Poppy; she hadn't turned up to school. They would be worried for sure. When Poppy got home that day she saw Steven sitting on the couch with his fingers laced together and in deep thought. A bandage covered his wrist but Poppy didn't think much of it at the time. She had been searching for Gin ever since. Today, she was at the outskirts of Domino city. It was a heavily wooded area, hopefully he would be here.  
"GIN! GIN! COME HERE BOY I HAVE TREATS!...GIN! Gin!...gin…." She shouted before she trailed off once more, shaking all over whilst rattling her bag of dog treats to see if maybe, just maybe it would temp him out.

Something glimmered in the bushes just where the light shone. She walked over quickly and knelt down balancing on the balls of her feet as she picked up the item. It was his collar! Poppy took a deep intake of air before chocking out a smile. She was glad she found something. She looked at it closely, it looked like it had been cut off, and bits of blood splattered the dark blue collar. She raised an eyebrow slightly, was he hurt? Holding the collar to her forehead as she coughed slightly, Poppy stood up wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her arm. She felt her phone vibrate once more and dragged it out of her pocket, flipping open the top. It was just a reminder for her to do homework. Had she really been out here that long? It was five already….she should probably head back; but she couldn't not with the new lead she had found. Something snapped a few feet away from her making her jump slightly and turned around quickly. There she saw who she thought she lost forever. Gin; but he was limping and looked quite beat up. Poppy quickly jogged over to him as the dog stopped, he's left back paw not daring to touch the ground. When she reached him she dropped to her knees and quickly examined the hound before putting her arms around his neck giving him a tight hug. His fur was clumped with mud, his tail was low and his ears dropped. She pulled away from her furry friend and examined him a bit more, more so around his neck. There were a few hesitant looking slashes before a deep one was made; there was another deep one on his left side where he was keeping his paw off the ground and a rather bad attempt at his right side. She looked at him sympathetically.  
"Oh Gin, who could have done this. Let's get you to an out of hours vet and then home for some food." She said to him as she gave him a few treats from her treat bag. Gin took them far more gently then he would have done.

As they got back into the town she received a lot of odd looks. Poppy walked slowly next to her dog, she didn't bring his leash with her, but by the looks of things he wasn't going to run off anywhere. She tried asking various people where an out of hours vet was but with no such luck, they either didn't understand her or just shrugged her off. She sighed as she came across to a game shop. She sighed, she had to try. She went to open the door but stopped as she thought to herself and pulled her hand back. It was way past six they wouldn't be open now. She furrowed her brows in frustration before a voice was heard behind her.  
"Poppy are you alright? What happened to Gin?" A calm and worried sounding British voice said. Poppy turned her head slightly so she could see the person from just over her shoulder. Ryou stood there in a white and blue stripped shirt and blue jeans with black trainers. He looked worried for her. Poppy turned around fully so that her back was not facing him and looked at Gin who looked like he was struggling a little bit now.  
"Do you know where there is an out of hours vet? Or at least a vet that would be on call right about now?" She asked him in an almost pleading like tone. Ryou nodded his head and turned slightly, pointing to his right.  
"There's one just up the road there." He said to her as Poppy gave him a small smile and nodded her head looking at Gin.  
"Come on, we're almost there." She said to him gently and almost in a whisper like. He refused to move though; it was as if he was on the verge of giving up. Poppy couldn't carry him, he was much too heavy for her being a fully grown Alsatian, but she needed to try he was her friend and her family. She bent down placing one arm around the front of his chest and another just under the muscly part of his back legs. As she lifted him slowly and with a struggle he turned his head to snap at her making Poppy bring her head back quickly, he must have been in a lot of pain; more damage must have been done then just slashes as she first thought.  
"Here I'll take him. I don't mean to be rude but I may be a little stronger then you." Ryou said to her holding out his arms slightly. Poppy looked at him with a questioning look before looking at Gin who was pretty much dead weight in her arms making them heavy and weak, she wouldn't be able to carry him to the vets not without frequent stops which she couldn't afford at the moment. She hesitantly nodded her head and handed her best friend over to the white hair boy. He dropped his arms slightly once the dog was handed to him and quickly regained his composer.  
"Lead the way." Poppy said to him in a whisper as they walked towards the vets.

Ryou stayed at Poppy's house for a little bit. The vet said that Gin was to be attended to straight away as an emergency case and that she could pick him up tomorrow. There was an awkward silence between the two. Steven had taken himself upstairs for a bath. Poppy just sat there, looking at the stained collar in her hands with her brows furrowed before looking at Ryou.  
"Thank you for earlier. I…I can only imagine the worse would have happened if you weren't there. I'll return the favour I promise." She said to him gratefully with a small smile on her face holding back tears. Poppy was not one to cry, but she was worried and could only think of the worse, she didn't want to lose Gin, not yet; he was far too young. Ryou smiled at her with a warm and gentle smile.  
"That's alright. It's what friends do. I must head home now. Will you be in school tomorrow?" He asked her, his brown eyes full of concern and question. Poppy nodded her head.  
"Yeah I will be. Thank you again, I can't thank you enough." She said to him as he nodded he's head and stood up to leave her hour. As Ryou left he turned and gave a small wave with Poppy returning the gesture. He was a nice lad; in a way the brunette was glad she met him. She yawned and stretched her arms above her head. She would need sleep as she was heading to school tomorrow. Her mother was staying at her grandma's once more it seemed more like a permanent thing then a once in a while thing. Standing up Poppy went upstairs. She stopped outside the bathroom door yelling through it.  
"I'm off to bed now. I'll see you in the morning OK?" She said as she heard a yell of "OK goodnight!" back through the door. With that Poppy took herself off to her room, changed into some shorts and white wife beaters top and slide into her bed, placing Gin's collar on her bed side table. She would be glad to have him home tomorrow, the house was far too quiet and empty for her liking without him around.

She wished her night would be peaceful. She was back in this place. This dark and cold place filled with nothing but black; the only difference was it was filled with blood chilling laughter as well. Poppy was going accustomed to this place. It was becoming a regular thing now. It wasn't until she felt an arm slam into her throat slamming her back into a wall…..she didn't think this place had walls. Gasping she looked at the person that did it, it was regret with her crooked smile, eyes wide and pupils very small.  
"I'm powerful enough to have my own body now did you know that? You felt regret when you read that text message from Steven about Gin going missing, that's what I needed. Why did you regret leaving Gin with Steven do you doubt him? Oh such questions, such answers I'll have to wait for." She said before removing her arm making Poppy drop to the floor gasping for air, her own hands at her throat rubbing it slightly. Regret knelt down next to her balancing on the balls on her feet.  
"This will be fun, such fun, such marvellous fun….I wonder what I could get up to. I know exactly what I want to do, but I'll need cloths. Best thing too is that we look similar but don't, I can become my own person! Oh but I like the name regret I may keep it." She said. Poppy looked at her confused, in her excitement she seemed to be talking to herself a lot. Regret looked back at Poppy before standing up and pulling the brunette up with her by the hair.  
"You stay quiet it annoys me. Talk to me, go on see what happens. Oh but this if you're usual behaviour. I'm going to cut it short and leave this mind now. I'll see you later in that world you walk in." She said letting go of Poppy's hair making her drop to the floor once more. With that regret vanished. Poppy looked around for her where she sat only to slam her hands into her head and double over in pain; her eyes wide in terror and pain as her mouth held agape but no sound left it. It was painful it woke her up; at least she hoped it did but she only found herself in the same position. The was becoming unbearable so much so that she could feel herself slipping into darkness once more from the pain. Maybe that was her salvation.

Poppy walked to school that day with her head low. She had pain killers in her bag, her head still killed from last night. As she got into school she changed her shoes over to the white indoor ones and sighed before closing her locker and walking to the classroom. The brunette entered the classroom only to be dragged over to the group by her wrist. She looked at the blonde hair boy quite confused.  
"What's going on?" She asked him. She wondered why he was in her and Ryou's home room. When they reached the group Poppy had to blink several times. There was two Yugi's; one looked older and all that much wiser.  
"What is the meaning of this?" The older looking Yugi asked her in a questioning but demanding tone. Poppy thought back to last night before gasping slightly….she couldn't….regret couldn't….but regret did and that was the proof. She looked at the group with her eyebrows furrowed slightly.  
"I'm sorry….I'm so sorry." She said to them. Although she had to admit she wasn't sure why she was sorry; she just was. Poppy didn't feel like herself, she felt scared, small, and not as brave as she was before last night. She couldn't help but shake slightly whilst fiddling with her hands; what has she created in the darkest pits of her mind? Better yet, where was the creature and what were they doing? Poppy closed her eyes tightly ready for scolding but for what?  
"I think this may be better speaking about outside the classroom." Teá said as they agreed. Poppy just stood there unable to move before she felt a tap on her arm, a soft tap at that. She looked to see who it was and saw it was Ryou who gave a small reassuring smile. Poppy followed him out of classroom to where the others were before following the group outside the school where they couldn't be seen or heard.

Once there they turned to Poppy.  
"Poppy…..why are you sorry? What's going on? Why were you at mine and Bakura's houses last night?" Yugi asked in a childlike questioning manner. Poppy looked at him before looking at the ground.  
"I…..I haven't exactly been honest, or told you much about it…..I guess I should come clean." She said to them keeping her eyes to the ground. She could feel everyone staring at her.  
"I wasn't at your houses. It was Regret…Regret is exactly what the name implies, she's all my regrets manifested into a being. I have so many, but I didn't think it would become something like this. I wasn't a nice child. I did things, terrible things. I lied, I stole, I killed animals that couldn't defend themselves. I did this all with Steven. As I got older I did it more and more until I was ten when I was caught. I was taken to the family who's kitten I beaten to death, I saw their distraught. I didn't think anything of it when I was little and doing it, but I knew after seeing that it was wrong. I went to all the families whose pets I beaten to death and apologised, I even got beaten for it myself. I vowed to change myself, to become a better person. That's how Regret started." She explained to them, she could feel her knees were weak, she could feel some looked at her in disgust but as she was staring at the ground she didn't know who.  
"I didn't know this would happen. I'm sorry, I'm sorry for what I did, I'm sorry for what has happened. I can understand if you don't believe me, but I'm truly sorry." She said to them, apologising like she never apologised before. Poppy was certainly not the same person they had first met when she came to the school just over a week ago. Deep down, she had a feeling this would happen, but it was a question of when. Poppy felt her feet being lifted off the ground as the front of her pink jacket was grabbed lifting her up.  
"You are the worse kind of person! You do these things and then expect sympathy for when the consequences come back and bite you!" Tristan yelled at her as she looked at his face. She couldn't help but look at the ground before looking back at him.  
"I'm not looking for sympathy, I'm looking for redemption." She said to him as he growled deep in his throat.  
"Why should we believe you? You just said you used to lie. What else have you lied about?!" He yelled back at her as she furrowed her brows. He had a point, why should they believe her?  
"Tristan don't you think you're being a little rash? You heard her, she said she was sorry and wants redemption." She heard Ryou speak up as Tristan looked at the white haired boy with an eyebrow raised before letting go of Poppy's jacket. She landed on her feet with her knees bent before looking at Ryou slightly.  
"I lied to you where I used to live Ryou. I actually lived in Medway, not Northolt. I'm sorry." She said to him, she never apologised so much in her life. He just turned to her and gave her a calm smile.  
"That's ok. I understand." He said to her as Poppy looked at him a little shocked. She didn't think he would be so OK with it. The others certainly had it against her now. Poppy looked at the group once more, she wondered what they thought of her now, did they still like her? Probably not, she would understand though; after what she said Poppy doubted she would like herself too. She felt awful, even though it was in the past and something she didn't do any more she still felt like scum, the lowest of the low. She felt scarred, when Regret left, did it take away everything that made her confident? Or is this how she really is….Poppy didn't know, she hoped someone did.

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1 - I'm not sure where Ryou actually lived before he transferred so I picked London for simplicity.


	5. Losing a best friend and brother

_Disclaimer: This is a fan-made story. Ownership rights and licensing to go: Kunihisha Sugishima, Kazuki Takahashi, Studio Gallop, Nihon Ad Systems, Magna Pacific, 4Licensing Corporation, Konami, Tokyo TV, Animax. Please support the official release._

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They stayed quiet, the entire group stayed quiet. It made Poppy shift uncomfortably and look to the side, more towards the ground.  
"I can understand if you hate me you know. I wasn't very nice when I was little and I lied about where I came from." She said to them, keeping her gaze focused on the floor. She noticed the ground turning darker as dark coloured spots starting appearing on the floor. It had begun to rain. No one replied, she didn't expect them to.  
"You seem different then when we first met, you didn't seem like the apologetic or begging type." Teá said to her making Poppy look up from the ground and meet Teá's eyes. She didn't know how to explain that.  
"This is just my theory; you said Regret is all the things you came regret correct?" The older looking Yugi asked making Poppy nod her head.  
"When she separated from you, it also removed the confidence you had, which means it was not your own but Regrets." He said to her, crossing his arms whilst thinking to himself. Poppy nodded her head once more, letting it sink in. It would explain why she felt so small, so scared, and afraid of anything at the moment. That confidence was not her own but what she had burrowed, she sadly relied on it and was now paying the price.  
"So you mean this is what she's truly like Yami?" Yugi asked him raising an eyebrow in question. He nodded before speaking up again.  
"Yes, but it's only my guess." He said to the group as they nodded. Poppy became slightly confused, Yugi called the older one Yami…that was his name? She stayed quiet though, they hadn't answered her earlier sentence; she wasn't going to push it.  
"Well, I think you're being honest with us so I believe you." Ryou said to her. Joey gave him a rather sceptical look, one of pure madness. Poppy looked at him slightly shocked, she was not expecting it. Yugi smiled at her warmly and walked forward slightly as the rain got heavier and louder.  
"So do I. You can't be as horrible as you think or feel you are if you're looking for redemption for your past mistakes, we'll be there to stick with you through your journey." He said to her as Yami nodded his head agreeing. Teá was next to agree, followed shortly by Joey and lastly by Tristan. Poppy wasn't sure what to say, she was lost for words. Was it real? Or was she dreaming…she waited for the smack of reality to hit her like a truck of bricks. All the brunette could muster was a very small smile and a muttering of "thank you."

The touching little moment was ruined when she felt her phone vibrate in the rim of her skirt once more.  
"Excuse me." She said to them dragging the skirt out and flipping it opening. It was the vets calling. Poppy answered the phone with a small "hello". She started smiling widely to herself when she heard the news, before nodding her head and saying goodbye and looking at the others. She looked at Ryou with the large smile.  
"Gin's OK! I can go and take him home now. The vet has some information and medication to give to me for him, but he can come home." She said to him, putting the phone back. Ryou smiled back at her whilst nodding his head.  
"That's good, I'm glad to hear it." He said to her, happiness being evident in his voice. He had to admit, he was worried for the dog even though he barely knew it; but he was worried as it meant a lot to Poppy.  
"What happened to Gin?" Joey asked her raising an eyebrow slightly. Poppy looked at him then at the rest of the group.  
"He was injured quite badly. I'm actually going to go pick him up now and help him settle back in. You're more than free to come along with me if you want." She said to them with a small smile on her face. The group nodded and begun walking back inside to change their indoor shoes into their outdoor shoes.

They walked to the vet quiet quickly. He wasn't that far away from the school really, about twenty minutes, the school was about half an hour from Poppy's house so it would take roughly half an hour to maybe an hour if they go very slow to get back home. Poppy doubt that they wanted to go slow though due to the downpour that was currently happening. As they got to the vet's Poppy walked in, holding the door for the others.  
"We'll wait here. The staff won't be happy if all of us enter at once." Yami said to her as the others nodded.  
"I'll go in with you in case Gin needs to be carried again. They probably used anaesthetics as those wounds look quiet deep." Ryou said to her as Poppy nodded her head agreeing. He followed her inside the building.

"I think he likes her." Teá said once the two were out of ear shot. The group looked at Poppy and Ryou through the vets' window. The two were standing together as the vet brought out Gin, who was wobbly and couldn't stand that long before needing to lie down again. He probably just came out of the anaesthetic.  
"Hey I think you may be right." Tristan said to them in a "matter-of-fact" tone. The group kept watching them. Popp gave Gin a big hug as he sat down. He wore what looked like a lamp shade around his neck; it was there to stop him chewing at his stitches. Once Poppy let go of the dog Ryou bent down to pick him up once more.  
"I think it's nice really, but it might be better to let them be and see what happens." Yugi said to the group as Teá nodded. Joey looked at him slightly annoyed.  
"And 'ere I thought I could play matchmaker!" he said to the group as they just laughed it off. Watching the two once more they saw the Poppy and Ryou bowed slightly to the vet as thanks, well Ryou as best he could with a full grown dog in his arms before turning around and walking towards the exit again. Joey held the door open for the two to walk out.

As they walked home Poppy would periodically rub Gin between his ears and give him a treat from her bag for being a good boy and not snapping.  
"So what did the vet say?" Teá asked her. Poppy thought back slightly before speaking up.  
"I got to give him two anti-inflammatories in the morning and evening along with antibiotics, two of them as well. He's not allowed to run around at the moment as the bone in his back leg was snapped in half so they've put a metal rod there to stabilize it. He can put weight on it though and the vet recommended it to help the leg grow stronger into a more natural position again. The stitches will dissolve on their own so in a week I can take off the lamp shade." She said to her with a small smile on her face as they reached her house. Ryou put the dog on the floor again to allow him to sniff around and probably go for a pee. He was much livelier then he was when they went to get him.  
"Wait here, I'll see if anyone is in." Poppy said to them as she opened the door.

Once opened she walked in and took off her shoes before shouting through the house.  
"Mum! Steven! You guys home!?" She shouted and walked into the main part of the house. Poppy looked around and walked over to the part where the sofa was, only to be tackled to the floor. She let out a sharp gasp of air and looked up to see Steven straddling her waist with his hands around her neck. As she tried to pull them off they just griped tighter. As she struggled to breath she looked up to see his face. He's eyes were full of pure hatred and murderess intent. She couldn't kick him off; she wasn't able to take in enough air to do so. It was until she heard barking and Yugi shouting Gin's name to come back that one hand was lifted off her throat.  
"Bloody dog get off of me or it'll be you next." He said darkly, he meant it. Gin continued to pull at his arm trying to rip the boy off his owner. Poppy could smell blood as it dripped it to floor from Steven's arm. She gasped for air once the weight was fully lifted off and heard what sounded like a head slamming off the floor.

Gin stood over her protectively growling, his teeth bared and ears back, his jaw slightly open. Ryou and Teá knelt down by her, helping her sit up again.  
"Are you OK?" They asked in unison. Poppy nodded her head and rubbed her throat slightly breathing heavily. Yugi was trying to calm Gin down as Ryou rubbed Poppy's back to help her breath.  
"Let me go this instant! Don't think I won't hesitate hurting anyone of you people!" Steven yelled. Poppy looked at him in shock with a mixture of sadness as she pulled her legs out from under Gin and stood up, walking over to Steven who was being held down by Tristan and Joey. Joey had a hold of his legs as Tristan had a hold of his arms. Yami was looking around almost suspecting like where he stood.  
"Show yourself!" He held into the house. Dark laughter was heard before a tutting sound accompanied by the sound of walking was heard.  
"Ah darn. Steven you failed….I thought you knew how to kill people considering you killed your own father." She said looking over at the boy being held down in shame as he looked back with a glare on his face.

The woman that stood there made Poppy shiver in fear, she knew who she was. Her long brunette hair tied into a pony tail with the tie being just under her ear so that it hung over her shoulder. Her evil looking blue eyes. She was just as slim as Poppy and just as tall. She wore black skinny jeans with black flat pumps, a red vest top and Poppy's favourite leather jacket.  
"I would have succeed if her…friends didn't arrive." He said to the woman who came out of the shadows with hatred dripping off every word he spoke.  
"Steven what's going on?" Poppy asked him, dropping down to his side slightly so that she was balancing on the balls of her feet. He looked at her with a glare; this was not a look Poppy ever received from him. It was strange; it felt like he truly hated her for whatever reason but she didn't know why. Had she done something wrong? He was breathing heavily out of anger, and probably because he could hear the sound of Gin snarling.  
"Oh stop interfering you silly girl. Bakura, go get the lad, we need to rethink of a plan." She said, crossing her arms and turning her head to her left side.  
"I do not follow commands Regret. I will however retrieve him as he is needed." A dark and dangerous voice said from the shadows before walking over to the group with a smirk on his face.  
"Let the boy go before I send you to the shadow realms." He said to them walking closer. Joey and Tristan kept a stern look on him as Yami moved in front of them. Ryou came and knelt down next to Poppy putting an arm around her shoulder with his hand holding onto the top of her arm and his free hand on her other arm in case Steven was able to break out of Joey and Tristan's grasp. Poppy looked at the Ryou look-a-like in confusion. Shadow realm? What was a shadow realm?  
"You will not be sending anyone to the shadow realm!" he said in a protective manner. Teá went and knelt down by Yugi as he was trying to comfort the dog. She thought he would need the help.

He laughed. It made Poppy's blood freeze in her veins, it was such an evil laugh it was hard to believe that he looked anything like Ryou.  
"So you were given a body to? How nice, now step aside pharaoh or I'll be making you." He said to Yami in a threatening tone. He refused to move though, more so for the safety of his friends if Steven broke free. The white haired person, who Regret referred to as Bakura simply pushed Yami out of the way with force, making him stumble back onto his butt. He walked over to Steven, Joey, Tristan, Poppy and Ryou. Tristan and Joey glared at Bakura as he stopped in front of them. He wore the same clothing as Ryou, but with a black trench coat over it. Ryou stood up bringing Poppy up with him slightly in case Bakura tried anything or managed to get Steven free, he was scared himself more so because this man was the person that controlled his body whenever he felt like it without consent. Bakura brought his hand down grabbing the front of Steven's grey shirt and dragging him up, making Joey and Tristan let go.  
"Come here boy you'll be coming with us again." He said as he turned around and pushed Steven over to Regret who simply grabbed his shoulders to keep him in place.

Regret laid her chin onto his shoulder, her crooked smile still sitting on her face, her eyes full of evil and murderess intent, just like Steven's was.  
"He was easy to manipulate you know with the help of Bakura. Then again, it wouldn't have been that hard not with his mental condition." She said as she kept a grip on his shoulders. Poppy looked at Steven trying to search for answers on him, but he only returned her look with a glare of hatred. Poppy could only watch helplessly as Regret and Bakura began taking her friend away.  
"We'll be back, don't you worry dear. But keep this in mind; it may not be how you expect it." She said as she looked at Bakura who opened what was almost like a shadow in the wall and walked through it with Regret and lastly Steven following through. Steven looked back slightly with a slightly less harsh glare, but also the look of apology on his face as the shadow's vanished. It felt weird to Poppy being called dear by what was really she, only more cynical and violent. Poppy looked at the spot that they vanished through. Yami stood up after being asked if he was OK, by which he replied with he was fine then looked at Poppy wondering if she was. Gin had calmed down himself after sniffing the area they disappeared at.

"Steven is Schizophrenic with possible multiple personality disorder. When he attacked me, I thought maybe he didn't realise he was doing it. But after seeing the look on his face, I knew he was fully aware of his actions." She said to the group as they sat on her floor. Part of the floor was wet after Poppy cleaned it up due to the blood on it. Gin was lying down next to her.  
"I have no doubt in my mind that Steven also tried to kill Gin. That's clear to me now. I should have realised after seeing the bandage around his wrist a few days ago when I got home." She said, rubbing the dogs back who quite happily laid next to her sleeping. She was angry with herself. She should have done something to keep Regret under control, and now she was free, along with an evil spirit that used to reside in Ryou's millennium ring and Steven, her best friend who was being taken advantage of due to his mental state. The three together were sure to cause trouble.  
"Don't beat ya self up about it. Dat bandage could have been anything." Joey said to her in a reassuring manner. Tristan nodded in agreement with Joey, the two seemed to agree on a lot of things.  
"It may be dangerous for you to stay on your own tonight. I think it would be best if we all stayed round, that way if she does come back everyone will be ready." Yami said as Yugi agreed with him. Poppy nodded her head as she stood up.  
"I'm going to get changed and bring down some blankets. Please feel free to quickly head home to grab some items." She said to them as they nodded and stood up. As the others left Ryou was the last to leave, he handed her a piece of paper.  
"It's got my number in it as well as everyone else's. If something goes wrong try to call one of us." He said to her with a gentle and calm smile. Poppy smiled back then quickly walked over to the side table next to the arm chair. She walked back over to him and held out her spare house key.  
"In case I don't answer my phone or the door. Make sure to keep it safe, it's the only one I got." She said to him with a small smile. Ryou nodded his head in return and attached it to his own set of keys before exiting the house with a small wave.

She got changed and quickly had a shower. She could hear Gin was following everywhere; he even waited inside the bathroom for her even if he was doing so lying down. Poppy got out of the shower quickly, wrapped a towel around her body and looked at Gin. She knelt down balancing on the balls of her feet and took a look at his face. He had blood on his face from earlier making her sigh slightly and stand up to grab the dog sponge and soap. She walked over to him and sat down cross legged. She rubbed the soap and sponge together before washing his face.  
"Thank you Gin for earlier. I might not have been here if it wasn't for you. But try not to do it again, you're still injured." She said to him with a small smile as he wagged his tail. Poppy washed off the soap off his face and sponge, stood up and walked out of the bathroom only to walk into a chest with a thud. She stumbled back slightly and looked at who she walked into it. It was Tristan; he stood there dumbstruck and blushing due to what she was wearing. Poppy looked at him in shock unable to speak.  
"Sorry, I was just looking for the toilet….I'll go now." He said turning on his heel very quickly and walked back down stairs once more. Poppy shook her head slightly before turning on her heel and walking back to her room to get changed and bring down some blankets. She threw on some shorts and a short sleeved top and dragged the spare sheets from her wardrobe. Afterwards she started heading down stairs again with Gin hot on her trail.

Poppy gave everyone a blanket and helped move the furniture so that the living room was big enough to people to be able to move around during the night if they needed to. Gin jumped onto the sofa shortly afterwards and lied down there. He was probably hoping to get some good rest that was on his own accord.  
"I'll try and find something to do for dinner, I haven't had a chance to shop yet so I'm not sure what to do." She said to them.  
"We brought our own things. We did sort of invite ourselves to stay so don't worry about cooking anything." Yugi said to her as Poppy nodded her head and went into the kitchen. She needed to put down some food for Gin. Opening the fridge she pulled out some chicken and chucked it into his bowl. She wanted to encourage him to eat all his dinner tonight as she was sure he had been a few days without anything to eat. Once she finished picking in dog biscuit mixer and chicken together she placed the bowl onto the floor so he could eat it when he was hungry. Poppy walked back into the front room to see Teá holding a picture in her hands. It was the one with Poppy as a young girl, her mother, father and Steven. She was about seven in the picture. It made her smile slightly, the two were as close as friends could be, they saw each other as siblings and now he was being manipulated and almost strangled her to death. Poppy couldn't get her head around it.  
"Who's the guy in the photo? There doesn't seem to be any other photos of him." Tea asked as Poppy walked forward and took the photo from her hands whilst sitting down on the floor with her legs crossed.  
"It's my father. He died when I was little in a car accident, since then it was my mother raising me by herself. It sounds cliché trust me I know. But he was a great man and did anything he could for his family. I do wonder what he thinks of me know and everything I've done in the past, he's probably not proud." She said, putting the photo back to where it stood.  
"I'm sure he's still proud of you. You're putting it right after all." Ryou said to her with a reassuring smile. Poppy smiled back slightly, although it did not reassure her as much as she had hoped it might have.

Sleep came to them quickly, the day was tiring. Poppy planned to ask Ryou to teach her how to duel tomorrow; she thought it might have been best. She would also ask that Yami guy what the shadow realm was and what was so dangerous about it. She did not like this feeling of being left in the dark and confused about everything; but alas it was something she had to live with for now until she knew. She could think of it as a learning experience. Poppy laid down quite close to Ryou but not so close so that their back were touching, she liked being around him; he was a happy and smiley soul it made her happy on the inside. She was glad to have him around. Closing her eyes she was taken to the land of sleep. Maybe since Regret no longer resided in her mind she could get a good night's sleep, maybe just maybe. Just this once.


	6. Good intentions

_Disclaimer: This is a fan-made story. Ownership rights and licensing to go: Kunihisha Sugishima, Kazuki Takahashi, Studio Gallop, Nihon Ad Systems, Magna Pacific, 4Licensing Corporation, Konami, Tokyo TV, Animax. Please support the official release._

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"Robin class, please welcome Poppy Mason, she'll be joining our class from now on. Poppy, introduce yourself, go on." The teacher said, kneeling down so that she was at Poppy's level and on her knees. The nervous child looked between the teacher and the class before moving behind the teachers back with only the top of her head and eyes peaking from behind the teachers arm. This child had big blue eyes, blonde hair in pigtails that sat on top of her head. She wore a red dress that fell to her knees and knee high white socks with black buckle up shoes. This was Poppy, when she was four years old and starting her first day of primary school. The teacher chuckled at Poppy's actions, the class made a few giggles amongst themselves at their new classmate's actions. She stood up before taking Poppy's hand and walking her over to her seat. She was sat next to a boy with very messy red hair, a few freckles and big blue eyes. He's shirt was over sized and he's trousers were baggy with holes in the knees. They were meant to be wearing a uniform, but as it was the first week of school the teacher decided not to this time.

The class was busy talking about themselves and what they're families did for a living. Poppy was asked to stand up and tell about her family.  
"Mummy's a nurse for old people and Daddy's plays with electric. I think he's a elect….elect….elec-twi-cinin." She said with a big smile on her face. The teacher smiled at her.  
"Electrician dear. They sound like very hard working people. Does Mummy work with the elderly who keep forgetting things?" The teacher asked her as Poppy nodded her head quickly with a pick smile on her face.  
"Mummy said they don't remember too good so she help them with everything!" She said to her, raising her arms up in the air with a big smile. Poppy was proud of her parents, she loved them to bits.  
"Ok dear you can take a seat now. Steven, what do your parents do?" The teacher asked the boy with orange hair as Poppy took her seat. Steven stood up, his right hand by his side and his left hand on his arm as he looked at the ground.  
"Go on dear, we're all friends here." She said to him with a happy reassuring smile.  
"Daddy works as a spy and Mummy looks after the house." He said, shifting his weight from foot to foot. The teacher sighed slightly at his little lie and asked him to sit down. Poppy looked at the boy in amazement with her big blue eyes.

The class did arts and crafts; well it was finger painting really. The teacher put a nice name to it to make the class feel more special about doing it. They were packing away. Steven was helping put the paints away with the teacher.  
"Thank you Steven. Why are you so well behaved dear?" She asked him with an eyebrow raised. Poppy was putting her things in her bag when she heard them talking.  
"Because Mummy beats me twice a day!" he said with a big smile on his face. The teacher got worried and took his hand bringing him back over to the table Poppy was at.  
"Poppy, I'll go get your mother to keep watch over you two. Sit tight OK." She said as Poppy nodded her head with a small "uh-huh" and sat back down. Steven watched the teacher walk out with a confused look. Poppy looked at him with a confused look to.  
"Does it hurt when your Mummy beats you?" She asked him tilting her head slightly. Steven looked at her oddly.  
"Mummy do not beat me. She jokes about it all the time! Did the teacher think I mean it?" He asked her looking slightly worried. Poppy shrugged her shoulders with an "I don't know." The two sat quietly at the desk as they waited for Poppy's mother to come into the classroom. Steven looked at Poppy.  
"I'm Steven Bir…..Bir….Bir-ming-ham." He said, struggling to say his last name slightly. Poppy smiled widely at him, she wouldn't be able to pronounce it and gave a small clap.  
"My names Poppy Mason." She said to him as Steven smiled back widely at the Poppy.  
"Do you want to be friends?" She asked him with a big smile still sitting on her face. Steven looked taken back by that question, but regained his composer and nodded his head quickly. Poppy held out her pinkie finger.  
"We will be best friends forever because you are my first friend!" She said to him closing her eyes with the big smile still on her face. Steven looked at her hand slightly before joining his pinkie finger with hers and shaking it as if shaking hands a large smile sitting on his face at the thought of now having a friend.  
"Uh-huh, forever." He said after her, happiness evident in his voice.

Poppy sat up quickly after waking from her dream. She held the covers tightly; her vision blurry she could feel her face was wet. Wiping her eyes with her arm she guessed she had been silently crying to herself during the night. That dream, it was when she first met Steven. He was her first friend, they promised to be best friends forever. Poppy couldn't help but feel more tears roll down her face, why did she have to end up like she was? Frightened of the unknown, scared of everything, lacking confidence to stand up to her fears, most importantly, why was she so easy to upset now? Why did it feel like she needed to depend on someone to keep her calm and collected? Was this who she really was? A wimp who couldn't stand up for herself? Did she depend on Regret's confidence that much? All these thoughts ran through her mind, it was just making her more upset and giving her a slight headache. She was annoyed at herself, how could she end up like this? A wreck. After all it wasn't like Steven had died, but in her heart it felt like the Steven she knew had and that is what upset her. She didn't realise how much she was shaking from trying to hold back her tears until she felt movement beside her and a whisper.  
"Are you OK?" She heard Ryou ask in a concerned sounding whisper, sitting up himself. Poppy nodded her head slightly. She didn't want to wake the others, she didn't want them to see her crying, and this was her own affair. If anything she was planning on asking them to not help her, not get involved, she didn't know what Regret was capable of and if she was honest with herself she didn't want them to get hurt because of what she had created from her mind.  
"I'm fine, just a dream." She said her voice slightly shaky and wiping her eyes with her arm once more. She heard him shift and felt an arm around her shoulder, it was almost comforting.  
"You can let it out you know; no one's going to think differently." He said to her as Poppy shook her head quickly.  
"No, I want to help him, to do that I need to be strong. I know the Steven I know is still there in his head." She said to him, wiping her eyes once more. Ryou nodded his head given a slight squeeze before removing his arm from her shoulders. She knew she needed to explain what he said last night, about killing his father. Surely they would have been wondering, but didn't question because of what had happened. Ryou laid back down in his own sheets as Poppy did the same; she remained close to Ryou though. She closed her eyes; maybe she would get some sleep, peaceful sleep of anything but her past.

From the shadows lurked a figure. He's blue eyes stayed on the group as he leaned against the wall. A small sad smile was on his face as he kept his arms crossed.  
"It's nice to see your true self again. I will need to tell you that when this is all over, if you can win." He said in a whisper to himself. He's orange hair covered his eyes slightly. The boy remained for a few more minutes, before he could feel his mind slipping from his body once more, the darkness and evil in him rising again.  
"If I am to be brought down by anybody, I want it to be you." He said in a whisper to himself once more before turning on his heel and walking back through the darkness. The orange haired boy was grateful for those few minutes of sanity before the darkness took over. He wondered though, maybe it was better off and safer for everyone if he wasn't around. The thought of suicide had crossed his mind, but as he thought about it more his sanity slipped away from his fingertips only leaving behind the darkness and evil that resided in him up to its own devices.  
"If only you knew what was coming, maybe it would stop you from trying to save this crippled mind." He said to himself, the shadows disappearing with him.

Morning soon came, no school today which was lucky; although Poppy felt bad she hadn't really spent time at school this week. A great impression she was making amongst everyone. Poppy was the first up, good thing to as she had shuffled very close to Ryou to the point that their backs were touching. She stood up, folding up her sheets and walked to her bedroom to get changed. She had questions to ask, questions to answer, might as well start early. Gin brought his head up from the sofa and watched as Poppy made her way to her bedroom. He got off his bed and followed his master closely. Poppy looked at his food dish, it was empty; at least he ate some point that night whilst everyone was asleep, all of it to. She was glad. Poppy got changed quickly into a grey slim fit top and a pair of dark blue jeans that covered her feet only leaving her toes visible. Poppy looked at Gin with a small smile on her face.  
"I should probably visit Grandma. I wonder how she's coping. I think mum staying there has become permanent." Poppy said to him, rubbing the top of his head then she walked downstairs into the living room again to see everybody up and about.  
"I guess I have more questions to answer, more so about what Steven said last night." She said to them, furrowing her brows slightly as the group nodded. She stayed where she was standing, her back leaning against the wall with her hands behind her back, fiddling with her fingers.  
"Steven did indeed kill his dad. You see, before I came here his mother went missing. He tried looking for her every day. I think that's what made his mental state even more unstable then it probably was. He stopped taking his medication to keep him 'in the balance'. Well, after I moved here he told me that he overheard his dad talking on the phone to someone, bragging how he killed his mother. Steven lost it, and without thinking killed his father. He fled here. I think saying there was a mini tournament going on was a cover up, it would have been on the news otherwise." She said to them, keeping her composer. Poppy knew he wasn't bad; at least he didn't attend to be. She knew he was kind hearted and some of his sanity still resided.  
"That explains about what was said last night." Teá spoke up after everyone took everything in.  
"Kid sounds like he has some issues. How long have you two known each other?" Tristan asked raising an eyebrow in question.  
"Since we were four. He's my best friend but also a brother to me. That why I want to help him, help him come back to how he was when we were little. I know nothing will ever stop what he has but I know his a good person really, the right people just have to help him up." She said to them, determination in her voice. Gin looked up at her before looking back over to the group once more.  
"And we'll be with ya every step of da way." Joey replied to her, giving a thumbs up and a wink of reassurance. The group had agreed. She was glad she didn't ask to it on her own.

She thought to herself some more before looking over at Yami, who had remained quiet.  
"Yami, what is the shadow realm?" She asked him, raising an eyebrow in question. He looked at her trying to find the best words to describe it.  
"It's when your mind is taken away from its body leaving only an empty shell, it can happen in duels or if that person is feeling particularly nasty then straight away. Most people will do a shadow game and then send the loser to the shadow realm, probably to see how much enjoyment they can get out of their pain. The shadow realm can be a range of things, from total darkness to your greatest fear. Not many people escape it, and with Bakura helping Regret we will probably see a lot of minds being taken. However, I will not put aside that Regret doesn't have mind tricks up her sleeve." He explained to her as Yugi nodded his head agreeing with his counterpart. Poppy nodded her head. It didn't sound like a nice place and by the sounds of it she needed to know how to duel in order to help her friend, to protect herself and others.  
"What is a shadow game?" She asked him. So far, Yami seemed like the best bit of knowledge to come across when it came to these things. He knew how it worked, did he experience it before?  
"A shadow game is a little more difficult to explain. But when in a shadow game your mind is at risk. Not everyone is strong enough mentally to play in a shadow game. The monsters played are real, and their attacks are just as real. Shadows games are painful." He explained to her. Yugi looked a little sad when Yami had said not everyone was strong enough mentally to play in a shadow game. It sounded like it took a lot out of people. She nodded her head taking in all the information. Looking at Ryou she knew she had to ask.  
"Ryou, your offer to teach me how to duel. Can I still take up on that offer?" She asked him raising an eyebrow in question.  
"Of course. I'll be glad to." He said giving a reassuring smile as Poppy smiled back slightly in return.  
"Do ya have a deck?" Joey asked her quickly afterwards. Poppy thought to herself before shaking her head.  
"I have cards Steven gave me but not enough for a full deck. If I'm honest, I want to use them it might mean something to him." She said wondering if they would know where she was coming from. She felt a little sad; not only did it feel like she had betrayed her brother by taking up someone else's offer to teach her how to fuel, her first priority was saving her brother and then possibly the world. But he was the closest one to her, he was everything to her.  
"Why don't we head to Yugi's game shop? You'll be able to get cards there and that's where we can build up your deck to." Teá suggested.  
"I think that's a great idea." Yugi said with a large smile on his face. Poppy nodded her head slightly agreeing.

She had brought her expansion packs and with some help from the others she had made a deck. Now, it was just learning how to use them. She had the cards Steven gave her in the deck as well, those being Silver Fang, Protector of the Sanctuary, Malevolent Nuzzler and Blackland Fire Dragon. She was duelling against Yugi, and was losing. Ryou sat beside her to help her decide what cards to play and how to play them whilst the others sat around the two duelling. Yugi had in Play Dark Magician Girl, who's attack power was raised due to Ryou telling her to play eternal rest as Dark Magician had an equip card to it, plus he had three cards in his hand. All Poppy had on the field was a Morphing Jar #2 face down in defence position, Full Salvo, Rush Recklessly and Dark Hole face on the field.  
"Play Dark Hole, then Full Salvo." Ryou whispered to her, pointing to each card in her hand. It wouldn't be enough to bring down the rest of Yugi's life points, but enough to bring them close to zero. Poppy nodded her head, flipping over Dark Hole.  
"I play Dark Hole, sending all monsters on the field to the graveyard. Then I play Full Salvo. By discarding my hand I can inflict two hundred life points for each card sent to the grave yard." She said, putting her four cards into the graveyard which in turn inflicted eight hundred life point damage to Yugi. It brought his life points to eight hundred. Poppy's life points still remained at two hundred and with only Rush Recklessly face down she knew she wouldn't win this time.  
"That was good. I play Magnet Warrior in attack mode and attack your life points directly. That brings them down to zero." He said with a sympathetic look. Poppy smiled slightly and nodded her head.  
"That was good for a first try." Teá said as poppy picked up her cards from her graveyard and placed them back into the deck before shuffling them again. Poppy smiled widely at her.  
"I did have a lot of help from Ryou." She said turning her head to smile at him. Poppy received a smile back.  
"You're welcome." He said to her as she nodded her head.  
"With practice you'll be able to hold your own and win. It's not a bad deck, just need to believe in the heart of the cards and you'll be fine." Yami said to her as Poppy nodded her head keeping a tight grip on her deck. She sighed slightly, she was not looking forward to facing Steven again that much she knew for sure.

Days past quickly, Ryou was teaching her how to duel with less and less help every day until she was able to think of her own strategies. She had been practising against Yugi, Yami and Joey to try and get a good mix. Poppy didn't know what was in Steven's deck even though she watched him duel, so having a good range of people to practise against was her best bet. Duel disks were on the market since the end of battle city tournament which Poppy had used her savings to get. They were quite expensive, but then again with top of the range technology she was kind of expecting them to be. Plus from what the others told her they had a tracker inside which allowed Kaiba corp to track any duellist using them. Yami suggested it wasn't wise for anybody to be on their own whilst Regret and Bakura were running around the place. However, Poppy said she was fine, she had Gin who now had he's lamp shade off so she would be OK. Ryou stayed round alternative nights though, she had to admit she liked the company. After getting changed she walked to the front door. Ryou had been playing with Gin and his tug toy, encouraging Gin to use his leg with the rod in it to strengthen it up.  
"I'm going to visit my Grandma for a few hours. You're more than welcome to come if you want." She asked him as he turned his head and nodded.

They had been spending a lot of time together, which Poppy enjoyed she liked his company. He was a nice guy after all and made her smile. If anything she had to admit to herself she had a crush on him and when questioned playfully by the others her face would turn red as she denied it with a backing comment of "Ryou's a great friend! Really!" But she was bad at lying, she was sure the others knew that already by now.

The two left the house after Poppy told Gin he had to stay at home as Grandma was allergic to dogs, or any kind of fur creature. It didn't take them long to get to her grandma's house, a half an hour bus trip and that was it. Poppy knocked on the door of the house, her mother had answered. She smiled widely at Poppy pulling her into a tight hug.  
"You managed to get here. You're lucky, you came on one of Grandma's good days. Oh, who's this?" She asked, moving aside to let the two in. The two took off their shoes as Poppy stood up straight.  
"This is a friend of mine, Ryou Bakura. Ryou, this is my mum." She said introducing the two as he held out a hand to shake with a calming smile on his face. Poppy's mum just hugged him instead, she was a very huggie person; everyone got a hug if they were friends with Poppy.  
"Nice to meet you honey. Come into the living while I make some tea." She said as Poppy nodded her head and followed her mum into the living room with Ryou following closely behind. Once inside the living room she saw her Grandmother. She looked small and frail as if the slightest bit of wind could snap her in half.  
"Hi Grandma." Poppy said with a large smile as the elderly woman looked up and adjusted her glasses.  
"Poppy it's good to see you. Come give Grandma a hug and tell me how you been." She said as Poppy walked over and gave her grandmother a hug before introducing Ryou to her.

They talked for a while. Poppy made her Grandma laugh a few times. She didn't tell her about the recent events, her mother had enough to worry about and she wasn't sure how her Grandma would take it knowing Steven had snapped. She didn't want to put her through that stress.  
"You better be looking after my Poppy, Ryou. I will have a talk with you if you're not." She said catching Poppy off guard which in turn made her face heat up. Poppy stuttered unable to think of what to say to that until Ryou spoke up.  
"Don't worry I am." Ryou said with a small smile. Poppy looked at him from the corner of her eyes, she could see his cheeks held a small red to them. Her Grandma knew how to embarrass people but Poppy was certain it was unintentional. If she was honest, she didn't want to try and explain to her that they were only friends, for one it would make her Grandma sad and with what her mother said to her earlier on the phone she didn't really want to. The two said they had to leave, it was already past five, Gin would need a walk and some food. The pair got up and walked to the door with Poppy's mum, who stopped them before they left the property,  
"I'm sorry that Grandma put you two in a tight spot. You handled the situation very well Ryou so thank you. I'll be here until Grandma Passes, give her company." Poppy's mum said to the two as Poppy nodded her head.  
"Ok, make sure to tell Grandma I love her and hope she stays well. I'll try and visit when I can." She said to her as her mother nodded her head and gave Poppy and Ryou a tight hug. With that the two left her Grandma's house.

The walk was silent, almost awkward.  
"I'm sorry for what Grandma said, she doesn't realise what she's saying really." Poppy said trying to break the awkward silence.  
"That's alright. She had good intentions really." He said, giving her a smile, making Poppy smile back at him and nodding her head.  
"Well that's touching." A voice was heard from in front of them. The two stopped only to see Steven in front of them with his arms crossed, a duel disk attached to his arm. He held a glare on his face.  
"Nice to see you're making friends but I'm about to put a stop to that in a shadow game." He said, removing his back pack and taking out a second duel disk. He tossed it over to Poppy who caught it out of pure instincts.  
"Stev-" She said before being cut off.  
"You're not backing out Poppy. If you do your mind will be sent to the shadow realm without a second thought. We'll be playing a shadow game where the monsters and their attacks are real. The losers mind will be sent to their darkest fear, and you my dear 'sister' will be the one trapped in your darkest fears!" he said, putting his arm out to activate the duel disk. Poppy shook on the spot, however she placed the duel disk on her arm and activated it. If she was going to be sent to the shadow realm by backing out then the only thing she could do was duel, and hoped to who ever watched her that what Steven had said was a lie.


	7. Good bye for now, my dear brother

_I'm very happy to get a second chapter out today. If I'm honest, I really needed to write this out before I forgot it. So enjoy! Oh, in case anyone was wondering, I listen to different types of OST whilst writing this out, so in total about twenty different tracks to get a feel of how it should be like in my head. The more you know… Also new summary yay! Because I felt the old one was bad._

_Disclaimer: This is a fan-made story. Ownership rights and licensing to go: Kunihisha Sugishima, Kazuki Takahashi, Studio Gallop, Nihon Ad Systems, Magna Pacific, 4Licensing Corporation, Konami, Tokyo TV, Animax. Please support the official release.  
_

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A black like cloud begun to engulf Poppy, Steven and Ryou. Poppy looked around, confused on what was happening as Ryou had a look of worry on his face. Poppy found herself taking deeper breaths, it was becoming hard to breathe and her breathing was deep but shaky and shallow sounding.  
"Try to breathe normally Poppy." Ryou said walking a step closer until Steven shouted over to him.  
"Touch her and you'll be going to the shadow realm along with her!" he shouted over in a threatening tone. Ryou stopped where he was, frowning and furrowing his brows.  
"Well, put your deck into the deck slot. Must I walk you through this?!" Steven shouted over once more at Poppy as she looked at him and nodded her head. She removed her deck from her jean pocket and slid it into the deck slot. They both drew out five cards each, Steven allowed Poppy to go first. Poppy looked at her hand. She held Curse of Dragon, Precious Cards from Beyond, Battle Footballer, Full Salvo, Morphing jar #2 and Dark Hole. She looked at the cards confused; she didn't know what to play. She looked at the defence of battle footballer, it was high. His defence was twenty one hundred.  
"I place one card face down in defence mode. I also play another card face down and end my turn." She said placing both battle Footballer and Dark Hole face down onto the field. Steven raised an eyebrow slightly before drawing his cards.  
"I play Different Dimension Gate to remove that face down card of your from play." He said as Poppy's Battle Footballer appeared with his arms crossed before vanishing.  
"Seeing as I didn't have monsters on my side of the field nothing gets removed from play for me. Too bad. All the time that card is active your Battle Footballer will not be seeing this duel. I know play Warrior of Zera in attack mode and attack your life points directly!" He shouted over to her as the Warrior charged at her, his sword to his side. Poppy stood there shocked, not knowing what to do. The Warrior swung his sword into her side giving her a large gash, before sliding his sword from her wound. Poppy immediately doubled over in pain, her eyes wide and breathing heavy. With her hand on her wound she could feel the warm liquid leaking out, the smell of metal making her want to be sick.  
"Poppy!" Ryou shouted over before Steven raised his voice.  
"I will not warn you again! One more step and both of you will be gone!" he shouted over, threatening and glaring at the white haired boy. Ryou could only stand and watch as his friend was in pain and there was nothing he could do about it. Steven ended his turn.

It was about half way through the duel. Poppy was still breathing heavily. Steven had Goblin of Greed in defence mode and Slot Machine in attack mode. He also had nineteen hundred attack points. His face was cut up but that's as bad as it got as most of his life points were taken by magic cards, mostly the ones that burnt; so his clothing was slightly burnt to. Poppy had Protector of the Sanctuary out on the field in defence position; it was actually giving her some time as neither player could draw except during the draw phases. She also had remove trap face down on the field. Her life points were down to seven hundred and fifty. The gash on her side had stopped bleeding luckly, however she had required deep bite marks in her shoulder from Steven's card Wolf attacking her directly. She looked at the card in her hand, the one card she had. Spirit Caller. She looked at it before looking at Steven; he didn't even seem fazed by all of this.  
"I place one card face down in defence mode and end my turn." She said weakly whilst placing the card down. Steven drew a card from his deck before smirking.  
"I sacrifice Goblin of Greed in order to summon Dark Ruler Ha Des in attack mode! Now my dark ruler, attack her Protector of the Sanctuary!" He shouted over as the dark ruler used what looked like magic and attacked the giant building that was defending her. The building crumpled as Poppy looked at horror at the machine.  
"You should have let me teach you how to duel. Maybe you wouldn't be losing right now. Now Slot Machine attack that face down card!" Steven shouted over once more as the machine card threw attacked her Spirit Caller. Poppy smiled slightly.  
"You activated Spirit Caller's ability. As he was technically flipped I can now summon a level three or lower monster from my graveyard onto my side of the field! And I select Iron Blacksmith Kotsetsu! Sure I don't get to use his ability, but maybe, just maybe he'll save me." She said as the blacksmith appeared on the field, his arms crossed with tools in each hand. Steven blew air out of his nose.  
"Do what you want you'll still lose!" He said to her.

The duel continued for what seemed to Poppy like forever. She had only one monster on her side of the field and only one hundred life points. Steven had a Dark Magician girl equipped with Malevolent Nuzzler and one face down card. Poppy should have guessed he wouldn't have only one of them. His life points where at a steady one thousand. It was Poppy's turn to draw a card. Her eyes widened at what she drew. She had drawn the card MegaMorph. In her hand she also had Eternal rest.  
"I play Eternal rest to put your Dark Magician girl to rest! Next I equip MegaMorph to my Blackland Fire Dragon. As my life points are lower than yours his attack double, giving him an attack power of three thousand." She said to him, as the Dragon roared in the air. He was as powerful as a Blue Eyes White Dragon. Steven looked at the Dragon and couldn't help but smile slightly. He waited for the attack, but nothing came. He looked over at Poppy; she was hesitating to call the final attack. It looked like she trying to call out the attack, but couldn't.  
"It's OK. Call the attack, I'll be fine!" Steven shouted over to her. Poppy looked at him in shock, he was mean to her not so long ago and threatening and now he held a sympathetic smile on his face.  
"I've regained enough sanity seeing you duel to tell you to do the right thing! Now hurry before it's too late. You do not want me to flip over that card, so do it now!" he shouted over as Poppy thought to herself before shouting her attack.  
"Blackland Fire Dragon, attack his life points directly!" She shouted at the dragon through a shaky voice. The Dragon drew his head back and fired the attack. Steven smiled as she did so, he could feel the nagging in the back of his mind telling him to flip that card, send the attack back at her and make her loose; but he kept telling it no. He kept telling it he would take the attack, he deserved it, he had it coming, and it was deep down in his heart his way of saying sorry for everything he had done. Losing his mind to the shadows would be his punishment that was how Steven saw it.

With a smile the last of his life points dropped to zero. Steven looked at his friend, a sad look coming onto his face at the injuries he had caused her in this duel. Poppy was standing there, holding her bleeding arm, on one knee, her left side showing a huge gash on it with her right shoulder boasting a pair of bite marks from his Wolf's attack. Ryou knelt behind her with one knee on the floor and the other in her back slightly once the duel finished his hands on her shoulders to help her from falling backwards. Steven himself didn't escape unscathed. He had bite marks on his left arm with cuts across his face and a stab like would in his back. He's clothing was burnt as well.  
"I'm glad you won Poppy. I'm glad it was you that put an end to me." He said to her, a sad smile on his face as he walked forward then dropped down to his knees. Poppy looked at him her breathing still heavy, Ryou did the same. Steven brought up his pinkie finger.  
"We promised to be best friends forever and I'm glad we did. In a way, I'm glad Regret separated from you; it was nice seeing your true self again. Smoking doesn't really suit you." He said with a wide smile on his face. Those were the words he wanted to say, the ones he told himself he would say when he watched her from the shadows a few days back before his mind slipped into darkness. Poppy couldn't help but smile slightly herself, linking her pinkie with his on her free hand.  
"I'll get your mind back again, I promise." She said to him. Steven flung his arms around her neck given his sister a tight hug.  
"I have no doubt in my mind that you won't." He said to her. Poppy hugged him back herself. With that, Steven felt his mind slip into darkness. The grip he had on Poppy loosened as he slid from hugging her onto the floor. Poppy looked at him scared for what had happened and tried shaking him to wake him up, but instead all she left was her bloodied hand prints on his arm and side.  
"Steven. Steven. Wake up!" She said, tears building up in her eyes. She could feel Ryou's arms wrap around her shoulders as he laid his chin onto his shoulders.  
"I'm sorry." He said to her in a whisper. Poppy could feel the tears that built up roll down her face. His mind was lost to the shadow realm. As Yami said all that was left was an empty shell that used to be him. His body just lay motionless on the floor, as if he was dead. He face didn't hold a grudge or glare, nor did it hold sadness. It looked as if it almost had a relieved look on it, as if glad to no longer be controlled or manipulated.

The shadows around them begun to disappear as yelling could be heard.  
"Bakura, Poppy! Are you guys ok!?" Tristan shouted as Ryou looked over to the group. Once the group got there they looked at the state Poppy and Steven were in.  
"Oh man, was it a shadow duel?" Joey asked as Yami went round to Stevens's body, which laid on the pavement on his side with his eyes closed. Ryou nodded his head as he looked back at Poppy who was doing nothing but staring at her brothers body. Poppy was at a loss for words, she was in her own world, crying over losing her friend and brother. Ryou kept his arms around Poppy's shoulders as reassurance.  
"His mind is in the shadow realm. We better take him to the hospital, they'll be able to fix him up there and keep him until we can get it back." Yami said checking Steven over.

A clap from behind was heard.  
"Bravo bravo. You actually defeated him! I have to admit I was not expecting the United Kingdom champion to be beaten by a duellist who only started maybe a few days to a week ago. He must have been going easy on you." A voice from behind said. They all turned their heads to see Regret standing just a few feet away from them. Beside her was Bakura who stood there with a smirk on his face.  
"Where's Steven!?" Poppy yelled at her whilst standing up with a struggle. Ryou stood up with her keeping his hands on her arms. Once she was on her feet Regret just smirked.  
"You're in no place to make demands you silly girl. You can't even stand on your own two feet without the white haired one standing behind you to keep you up so I suggest you keep your mouth shut." She said an evil looking smirk on her face with her left hand on her hip.  
"But, if you must know then we'll show you." She said, looking at Bakura slyly. He continued to smirk as he placed his hands around the giant ring around his neck. They could feel their minds being ripped from their bodies. It was painful, where exactly were they being taken to.

Soon they landed in a dark room with nothing more than a figure hunched over with its hands on its head. They took a step forward, what they saw made Poppy gasp. It was Steven, but as a child. He wore the cloths that he wore when they first met. He was hunched over sitting on his bum with his legs tucked up to his chest, his hands on his head bringing it down to his knees with his eyes closed tightly. Tears rolled down his face as he sobbed to himself. Regret appeared next to them with Bakura standing to Steven's side. Regret looked over at Steven before looking over to Poppy.  
"Your friend isn't as tough as he likes to make out to be. He may seem tough, but in reality he is nothing more than a scared child. Pathetic really." She said as Poppy watched him helplessly from the side. She began walking towards him to try and comfort him however Regret spoke once more.  
"His biggest fear is being alone. He can't hear or see us so trying to comfort him is pointless. This room is the room he felt like he was in when you left. Sad really isn't it?" She said as Poppy looked at her in disbelief. She felt bad for leaving Steven back in England if this is how he felt. A light soon admitted from Bakura's ring once more as they were thrown back into reality. The group started waking up; they had all been lying on the pavement. Poppy could feel her back on Ryou's stomach and quickly sat up then began to stand up. Everyone else did the same. Regret stood there with a smirk on her face.  
"You want to save your friend? Then find us. Here's a hint though, you can only do so by using the shadows." She said before her and Bakura vanished into the shadows once more.  
"Wait!" Poppy shouted stumbling forward with her arm held up as if she was planning on grabbing Regret's arm. Ryou grabbed her quickly by the arm and waist pulling her back.  
"You can't go after them in the state you're in right now." He said as they watched them disappear.  
"That cowardly woman! Why da shadows? Come out and face us like the tough guys you show yourself to be!" Joey shouted walking towards where Regret and Bakura were standing originally. Teá was helping put Steven onto Tristan's back whilst Poppy stood there unable to speak.

They had dropped Steven at the hospital. He was taken to a ward where he was put on life support and a feeding tube. Poppy had stitches in her side under Local Anaesthetic. She didn't like needles so the doctors permitted Ryou to be with her, it made her feel better as she thought about it hurting so it gave her a hand to squeeze the life out of. They had left the hospital after a couple of hours and decided to head over to Poppy's house to spend the night in case any more visits happened. Gin had jumped up at Poppy slightly however Poppy lifted up her leg slightly to block him from jumping up on her.  
"Sorry Gin, not for a while OK." She said to the dog, heading over to the kitchen to do him some food. When she opened up the fridge to take out some chicken she noticed it was stocked with a note attached to some vegetables. Poppy took out the note and read it over.  
"Thought you could do with some groceries sweetheart. Feel free to have your friends over, there's plenty to cover them all for a few nights. I've left some money on your bed side table to do some more when you run out. Grandma says she loved you and to stay safe. Love mum." Poppy sighed slightly and removed the chicken from the fridge putting it onto the table and then placing the note onto the fridge door with a magnet. Ryou had been watching her from her door frame with the others. They were worried for her. She hadn't said a word since they took Steven's body to the hospital and on their trip there she refused to let go of his hand just in case he moved or made some sort of sign that there was life there. Poppy was thinking to herself on how to get Gins bowl as she couldn't exactly bend down without popping her stitches at the moment. She was told to give it a few days before doing anything like that. Ryou was the one that walked into the kitchen and grabbed the dogs bowl, putting it onto the table. Poppy looked at him slightly before muttering small thanks then prepped Gin's dinner. This was the last night he was getting something from the fridge as Poppy felt her had built up his appetite back to normal. He was looking a lot better to and putting more weight each and every day onto his paw. When she was done Ryou took the dog dish off the table putting it down for the dog which made Gin happy. They all retired into her living room once more.

The silence was awkward, Poppy had said they could entertain themselves as they see fit, which lead to Joey and Tristan playing on her PlayStation to try and break the silence.  
"You got to cheer up Poppy. We can still get Steven's mind back, we just need to figure out what they meant by using the shadows." Teá said to her down friend. Poppy looked up at the brunette and smiled weakly at her attempt to cheer her up. That and she was tired, the doctor said she lost a lot of blood from her gash on her side. If anything she looked a little pale and was finding it hard to keep her eyes open.  
"How about I cook us some dinner? I'm sure that'll wake you up slightly." Teá said with a large smile. Poppy looked up at her again and nodded her head whilst trying to stand up.  
"I'll help, I can't have you doing everything for me in my own house." She said to her standing up rather wobbly and nearly falling forward. Ryou had stood up quiet quickly and grabbed the tops of her arms with his hands gently to stop her from falling forward.  
"I don't think that's wise. I'll help Teá. The doctor did say you lost a lot of blood and told you to rest. We'll be fine." Yugi said standing up with Teá as they entered her kitchen to prepare something. Ryou gently sat Poppy back down onto her couch as she watched the two walk away. Joey his control over to Ryou.  
"Did ya or Poppy want to 'ave a go?" he asked looking at the two. Ryou just shook his head as Joey shrugged his shoulders and continued playing once more. Yami was quiet, very quiet and Tristan was the one to take notice.  
"What's on your mind Yami?" He asked looking over at the older Yugi. He looked over to Tristan with his normal determined look on his face.  
"What she said, use the shadows…I have an idea what they means, but I don't think I should voice it until tomorrow. If I voice it now then Poppy may decide to try and go after her." He said to him nodding his head over to him. Tristan nodded his head.  
"You got a point." He said looking over to where Poppy and Ryou were sitting. Poppy had fallen asleep with her head on Ryou shoulder. Ryou just sat there a little awkward with some red on his cheeks as he watched Joey play the game.  
"But I don't think you'll have a problem at the moment. She's pretty much out from losing all that blood." Tristan said with a slight smirk on his face. Joey looked over himself with Yami. Joey smirked as well and opened his mouth to tease Ryou until Teá spoke up.  
"We can hear you in the kitchen; don't even think about teasing them." She said as she looked out from the kitchen with a small glare on her face at the two. Joey just rolled his eyes and went back to playing whatever he was playing with Tristan about the moan until Teá gave him a stern look. Something popped into Ryou mind as he looked at Yami, Joey and Tristan.  
"How did you find us anyway?" he asked them with an eyebrow raised in question slightly.  
"When neither of you were answering the door we thought you weren't in. Gin was going crazy." Tristan said, turning around so he could face Ryou. He nodded his head as Gin, as if on cue, walked into the living room and sat next to Joey nudging his hand for some fuss. Joey tried ignoring the big Alsatian, but when he decided that rolling onto his back whilst nudging and licking at Joey's hand was the best way to go, Joey decided to fuss him. Teá walked into the living room pointing her head into the kitchen.  
"Dinner's ready." She said as Joey and Tristan jumped up with various shouts of joy at the thought of food. Yami followed after them as Ryou gave Poppy a slight shake to wake her up. Poppy opened her eyes slowly at the feel of being shaken.  
"Teá made dinner. You better have some if you plan to feel alright tomorrow." He said giving a small smile as Poppy nodded her head and sat up. She stood up, although still shaky so Ryou helped her walk into the kitchen.

After the washing up was done everyone was lying on the floor under their various blankets muttering to one another. They were trying to think of good things to say. Poppy watched them from under her blanket her eyes not as heavy as before.  
"You OK?" She heard Ryou ask from beside her. Poppy peaked out from under her blanket at the white haired boy and nodded her head.  
"Yeah. Hard to believe that this morning we were visiting Grandma." She said to him quietly as he laid down next to her. Ryou wore blue pyjama pants and blue button up pyjama shirt whilst Poppy was in her usual night shorts and very loose tee shirt.  
"It'll be alright, we'll think of a way to get him back OK?" He said to her with a reassuring smile on her face. Yugi was the one that turned off the lights so everybody could get some sleep. Poppy watched them in the dark though from the comfort of her covers before turning over and getting closer to Ryou. She just needed the comfort that someone else wasn't going to slip away from her. Poppy grabbed his shirt sleeve tightly and held his arm close to her body, which made him look at her with red on his cheeks. Ryou gently removed his arm from her grasp and moved closer instead, putting an arm under her instead with his hand resting on her side, he was careful not the touch her stitches. This allowed Poppy to move slightly closer as she held a tight grip on his shirt front with her head resting lightly on his shoulder. It was much more comfortable. With that Poppy closed her eyes so she could get some sleep as Ryou just smiled at her and did the same whilst given her a slight one armed hug as comfort. He fell asleep shortly afterwards rather happy with how he was at the moment.

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_Fluff! Or my best attempt at fluff anyway. Hope you enjoyed! Two chapters in one day won't come often, probably only on weekends._


	8. Bads news to good

_If I make a sequel to this it would probably be more around the hardships of single parenting and the effects it can have on a kid more than romance...just a thought (yes it's a spoiler, sort of). I am fully aware there are not reviews but I just enjoy writing, so this is probably more for my writing pleasure then praise from others. Still nice to see it gets read so thank you!_

_Disclaimer: This is a fan-made story. Ownership rights and licensing to go: Kunihisha Sugishima, Kazuki Takahashi, Studio Gallop, Nihon Ad Systems, Magna Pacific, 4Licensing Corporation, Konami, Tokyo TV, Animax. Please support the official release._

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__Poppy woke up with her side slightly sore and her shoulder in slight pain and a little numb from cutting off the blood circulation to it. She heard giggling and hushing. She wondered what that could be and turned her head slightly, completely forgetting that she was using Ryou's shoulder as a make shift pillow and gripping tightly to his pyjama top afraid that he to would disappear. She used her left arm to prop herself up slightly, her brown hair out of place and slightly covering her eyes.  
"So, enjoy ya sleep Poppy?" Joey asked her in a teasing manner. She couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in confusion slightly. Feeling something soft under her she at first thought it was Gin, until she saw him shift slightly on the couch. By shifting, she meant turning around so that he was sleeping on his back with his legs in the air a little. Her eyes widening slightly she hesitantly looked for her right side to see her hand was not holding her dogs fur but instead Ryou's shirt. He hadn't woke up yet, he was still sound asleep. Poppy quickly withdrew her hand, feeling the heat rising to her face.  
"You seemed to be enjoying it a lot." Tristan said to her joining in with Joey's teasing. Poppy was about to protest until Teá grabbed the two by the ears and started pulling them away.  
"Stop teasing you guys and get changed instead." She said, dragging them into the kitchen then upstairs. Poppy watched as the brunette dragged away the complaining blonde and brunette.  
"Do you feel better this morning?" Yugi asked her with a cheerful smile.  
"Actually...I feel better than yesterday. I feel determined to get my brother back." She said, standing up herself. She wasn't as wobbly as she was yesterday, it made her glad. Yugi smiled at Poppy with a wide smile.  
"That's great!" He said to her as Ryou begun waking up from the noise. Poppy looked down at him before looking back at Yugi.  
"I'm going to go and get changed. I also need to wash my side and shoulder as I think they bled a little during the night." She said, pointing to her shoulder slightly with an embarrassed smile. Although, she wasn't too sure how. Yugi nodded his head as Poppy left to go into her room to get dressed. Yugi and Ryou looked down at where Poppy originally was. There was some blood on the sheets that they laid on.  
"I'll go put it in the wash. Since Yami said people shouldn't be alone I've learnt where things are here." He said to the smaller teen standing up himself and gathering the sheets. Yugi nodded his head with a wide smile.

Poppy reached her room and started getting changed into a slightly baggy band t-shirt with Lost Prophets on it, some loose fitting jeans held up with a belt and odd socks. Brushing her hair, Poppy brought some hair from the right side of her head, left side of her head and middle on her head and started planting it, before using one of her very small hair ties so that it wasn't noticeable to keep it tied up. Happy with how she looked for went into the bathroom and brushed her teeth. Afterwards, she placed her hands onto the sides of the sink and took a good look into the mirror. She looked tired, run down almost defeated. There were some bags under her eyes but not that noticeable and her skin was a little pale then it normally was. Reaching into the medical cabinet Poppy grabbed some chewable fish oil tablets and stuck one into her mouth and chewed it with a revolted look on her face. Maybe that would help. Swallowing the foul tablet she placed it back into her medical cabinet and sighed putting her head down before looking back at the mirror with a determined look.  
"I will get you back. I will not believe that was you, I know the true Steven wouldn't hurt something on purpose. Don't worry brother, we'll get you back and back to normal...as normal as you can be..." She said, trailing off in her sentence. Of course, he would never be normal in the eyes of society. People would look at his Schizophrenia and shove him away just re-enforcing his fear. That, and if he was positive for Multiple Personality Disorder then people would shun him even more but only if they found out. She hoped he didn't as in a way she already felt a little sorry for him due to having so much on his plate already; hearing more bad news would not help him at all. Poppy shook her head slightly before walking out of the bathroom to the living room.

Everyone sat in the living room as Yami said he believed he knew what Regret meant when. Poppy sat on the couch on the edge of her seat. She was excited, she could hardly contain herself. She needed to know what he had found out.  
"From what I can tell, Bakura has been the one creating the shadows with his millennium ring. If I am correct I should be able to do the same with my Millennium puzzle. However this will take time as I haven't used the shadows before for my own bidding." He said to them, leaning against the living room wall. Gin had his head on Poppy's leg as she smiled in excitement. They had a chance!  
"What if you can't do it?" Teá asked him in a concerned voice. Poppy snapped her head at her with worry. She didn't thing of that possibility. If he couldn't do it did that mean...  
"It means we won't be able to go to them, and would have to draw them to us." He said to her, his voice sounding less sure. Poppy's face dropped as she stood up, a plea like look in her eyes.  
"You need to try. Please, I beg you!" She said to him, closing her eyes tightly as she dropped her head. Ryou looked at her with concern, she had become very emotional since Regret separated from her. Not only that but Steven said this was the true side of her. Ryou had to admit, it was much better than when they first met but for some reason he felt the need to be at her side almost all the time as comfort, maybe even protect her. Those thoughts confused him, but he kept them to himself.  
"Do not worry. I'll try my best." He said to her as Poppy nodded her head slightly and sat back down with her head low. Ryou touched her shoulder making Poppy look at him slightly from the corner of her eyes.  
"It'll be OK. We'll find a way to get back your brother." He said to her as Poppy nodded her head and brought it back up again. Teá looked around the room, the tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife.  
"Hey I have an idea! Why don't we go out to the mall? Sure I know things are bad at the moment but I think we need to have a bit of a rest considering all that's happened so far. More so you Poppy, I mean you've had it worse so far." She said a small smile on her face. Poppy thought for a bit.  
"I guess it won't hurt." She said to herself thinking.

They were at the mall, or as Poppy kept saying "It's not mall it's a shopping centre! I should know we have a big one called the Pentagon shopping Centre in Chatham and an even Bigger one called Bluewater Shopping centre! It's shopping centre!" However Joey argued that it was mall as Ryou was the one that backed her up with shopping centre; however that was probably due to him being from England himself and as she put it "knew better then them." They decided to split up into groups, more so into two. One group being Teá and Poppy as she felt the two could do with some girl time, and the other two being Yugi, Yami, Joey, Tristan and Ryou as she felt they could do with some guy time. The two groups accepted of course and agreed to meet up at the food court at one to get something to eat, discuss what they saw and liked and then decide if they wanted to go somewhere else or continue exploring the shopping centre.

The girls explored the various clothing shops. Poppy was glad to actually have her mind taken off of the bad things going on so far. She was even considering buying herself some new cloths, one because her cloths were about two years old and she had grown in those two years, both height wise and bust wise, but also because she just really wanted some new cloths and maybe a new game or two for her PlayStation. As the girls Poppy found a top she liked and pulled it out holding it against her chest and pulling at the waist line to match where her waist started.  
"Hey Teá, what do you think of this one?" She asked turning around slightly with the shirt held against her. It was a simple yellow shirt with a brown belt around the waist and flared at the bottom. Teá nodded her head while smiling.  
"It would look nice on you." She said to her as Poppy smiled back at her friend.

The girls took a break from their shopping happy with what they had. They sat in the café, Poppy with some ice tea and tea with a strawberry milkshake. The girls were having general chit chat.  
"I hope you don't mind me asking but how did you and Steven meet?" She asked her rather curious. Poppy looked at her with an eyebrow raised slightly, in a way she could understand why. Steven was an odd human being to many but her.  
"We met on our first day of Primary School. He said his mother beat him. Of course she didn't it was just a family joke but the teacher didn't realise that and called social services. Until that time we got to know each other in the classroom. Since then we stayed as friends all through Primary School and Secondary School even into college. We did everything together, from studying to staying around each others houses even to go to the doctor for various things that others would go on their own for. We are like brother and sister..." She said trailing off and staring into her ice tea. Poppy had a small sad smile on her face as she remembered the various things they did. However she chuckled to herself as she remembered the time that Steven ran up to her shouting "Poppy! Help me there's this thing on my hand! It looks like cauliflower!". It was a wart and they had to go to the GP for some medicine to get rid of it, but it was pretty funny as he used to terrorize people trying to bully her with it until it went. Teá smiled slightly before changing the subject again.  
"So you and Bakura have been spending a lot of time together. Is there something you're not telling us about?" She asked sweetly with a sweet smile on her face. Poppy's face lit up as she bounced her legs up and down out of nervousness and looked away from her ice tea.  
"W-we're just very good friends." She said, as if trying to fool herself. Teá giggled slightly.  
"You can tell me, you have my word as a friend that I'll keep it secret for you." She said to her with a reassuring smile. Poppy looked at her friend trying to decide if she should admit to her or not.  
"I really like him." Poppy muttered to herself the heat in her face never leaving, instead it just became even hotter. Teá raised an eyebrow slightly before asking her to speak up as she didn't hear her.  
"I like him more then a friend." She said to Teá louder this time so she could hear with her face feeling very hot. Teá smiled at her and just patted her shoulder.  
"There see was it that hard. I think he likes you to. You just need to find the courage to tell him that." She said to her as Poppy looked up at her and nodded her head before taking a big gulp of her ice tea to cool herself off. She actually felt glad to get that off her chest.

It had been a week since they went to the shopping centre and Poppy admitting she liked Ryou more then just as a friend to Teá. Yami had been nearly able to crack the shadow using, it was almost time for them to go and find Steven and defeat Regret. The group went to Poppy's house and started knocking on the door. There was no answer. Growing worried Ryou took out his keys and unlocked her door letting them inside which was a good thing to as it started raining.  
"Poppy!?" The group started shouting. Gin ran up the to door and jumped up at Tristan for some fuss. Tristan rubbed the dogs head and saw something attached to his collar.  
"What's this?" He said and removed the paper from the dogs collar. The group hoovered around him as he read the note out loud.  
"Dear all, I am at grandma's packing her stuff. She's passed on and I'm currently at her house to pack away her belongings and wait for the coroner to come get her ...I don't know if I will be home. I'm sorry if this is too much trouble but could you feed and walk Gin for me? I'm sorry to have worried you." He said as the others looked sadly at the note.  
"Now what do we do?" Joey asked as Yugi took the note from Tristan and read it over and over again.  
"The only thing we can do and wait. That was if she does come home she won't be coming home to an empty house." Teá said with concern in her voice. They waited in the house for several hours. It was nearing seven PM. The rain hadn't stopped, Gin had been fed and walked and they were going concerned for Poppy, her well being and safety. Ryou stood up and walked to the door.  
"Where are ya going?" Joey asked him as he looked back at the others.  
"I know where her grandma lives. I'll go over and see if she's there to make sure she's OK." He replied back to them.  
"Tell her we're sorry to hear what has happened and to come talk to us if she needs to!" Tristan said over to him as Ryou turned his head and smiled slightly while nodding his head. With that, Ryou walked out of the door and into the rain, using his arms to try and shield him from the rain until he got to the bus stop.

"Oh I'm sorry dear. Poppy left the house a few hours ago. She said she needed some time to herself." Poppy's mother said after Ryou asked her if Poppy was in. Ryou nodded his head in understanding.  
"I'm sorry to hear what happened." He said to her giving her a slightly bow as the motherly woman chuckled slightly patting his shoulder lightly making Ryou stand up to look at her.  
"It's OK dear. There was nothing you could have done. We knew it was going to happen some day we just didn't know when. She's lucky to have a friend like you over here." The woman said smiling at him, tears threatening to fall from her eyes.  
"If you find her, tell her to stay safe and to text me will you dear? I doubt I'll be able to talk without breaking down." She said to him as Ryou nodded his head. With that, the woman closed the door. Ryou could hear her break down afterwards. Poppy in a sense was like her mother, she put on a tough front to protect herself, but behind closed doors she would break down. However, Poppy was not very good at keeping her emotional state in check which made him worry how she was doing now. With the rain still pouring as heavily as it was when he left, Ryou set off to find her again.

Ryou had been searching for an hour, asking the people local to the town if they had seen a girl with long brunette hair and bright blue eyes. They were all pointing him in the direction of the graveyard. Ryou of course followed their directions and sure enough he found the brunette sitting in front of a grave. He was about to go up to her until he heard her talking through chokes.  
"You and grandma are finally back together again huh. I'm glad in a way but I...I...I didn't even get to say goodbye!" She said, yelling as if yelling at herself and yelling at the grave for something it could note control. She sniffed before talking again.  
"At least you two will be happy together again. I shouldn't be bitter about it, it's not even your or her fault. But why do I feel so angry?" She said to herself as she hugged her knees closer. Ryou wondered if she knew how to deal with grief without Regret there, and when Regret was there how did she deal with grief? Did she shrug it off? Self mutilate? What did she do? Ryou walked up behind her. Poppy didn't notice as she had her head n her knees and was busy trying to hold back tears. Ryou crouched down behind her sitting on his knees and wrapped his arms her arm, putting his hands on top of hers which were currently on her legs.  
"Everyone deals with grief differently." He said putting his head onto her shoulder and giving her a tight hug.  
"I guess you heard huh?" Poppy questioned him muffled through her legs. Ryou nodded his head as her felt Poppy's body shake slightly from trying to keep back tears again.  
"Why don't you come back home? You'll get a cold if you stay out here much longer." He said to her as Poppy remained quiet. Ryou didn't mind, if she needed more time here then that's fine, after all he wasn't sure how she dealt with grief and in all honesty was slightly.

They stayed where they were for a few hours. Poppy and Ryou's phones had both been vibrating like crazy. When Ryou checked periodically it was the gang asking if he found Poppy or where they were. Poppy lifted her head up slightly so that her eyes were above her knees. They were puffy and red, she had been crying but mostly to herself as Ryou didn't hear anything. Then again the rain didn't help.  
"I would like to go home now." She said quietly to Ryou as he nodded his head and stood up. Poppy could feel a chill on her back, she wasn't sure how long they had been there, but she was glad he stayed. Poppy stood up herself feeling the rain hitting her back and shoulders. Poppy looked at her grandpa's grave once more before sighing shakily and turning around grabbing Ryou's hand then she begun walking out of the graveyard with him. Ryou didn't say anything and just followed, if anything Poppy was afraid he'd go. She didn't know why, but she felt like the world was against her for whatever reason.

The trip back home was silent. They stood on the bus waiting for their spot. Poppy had refused to let go of his hand. It was as if she was a child too afraid to left go of her fathers hand in case he left her behind. Of course Ryou didn't say anything, he enjoyed it really, but he wondered if she was doing so because of the current situation. They reached the bus stop about ten minutes away Poppy house, got off and walked to her house. The rain continued to pour down as they walked home in silence. They reached her door. Poppy rummaged through her pockets only to have the door open up with a worried looking Teá standing inside. She stepped aside with a sympathetic smile on her face.  
"You'll get a cold, come inside. I'll go make you guys some tea." She said as Poppy and Ryou walked into the house and took off their shoes. Poppy's jeans covered her feet more than usual.  
"I'm getting changed out of my wet cloths. I suggest you do the same." She said to Ryou quietly about to walk away before stopping, turning around and giving him a tight hug.  
"Thank you for staying with me." She said to with her face buried into his chest. Ryou just hugged her back without saying anything. They let go of each other afterwards so that they could get changed into dry cloths.

The group didn't speak about what happened earlier when they came off. They thought it was better to lay to rest. Instead, they just played on Poppy's game station. She didn't mind if she was honest it took her mind off the recent events. Gin hadn't left her side and just kept his head on her legs. Poppy watched them play thinking to herself. She looked over at to Yami who seemed like he was deep in thought. She looked at everyone else, they were either concentrating on the game or deep in thought. Poppy looked down to the cup of tea she was nursing in her hands, a towel over her shoulders to stop her hair from soaking her back through. Poppy gulped down her tea and sighed, she would be glad once everything was over. She needed sleep and even though it was only nine in the evening, Poppy was shattered. She placed her cup onto the floor and brought her legs up onto the couch without trying to disturb Gin. She laid down putting her head onto Ryou's lap. Although she was too embarrassed to tell him face to face that she liked him more than a friend so maybe he would get the hint if she just dropped hints. Plus it was not exactly a good time to tell him considering what happened. Ryou just placed a hand on the side of her head as Teá looked over and smiled to herself. The others were too indulged in what they were doing. Ryou grabbed the blanket that was on the back of the chair and laid it over her so that she wouldn't get cold. He found it difficult trying to stay awake himself. Ryou just propped his elbow onto the arm of the chair and leaned his head into his hand closing his eyes to try and get some sleep himself. Something bothered him, if the evil spirit of the ring was put back into the ring and found it's way back to him then he would be afraid to try and enjoy a moment like this. Ryou sighed slightly with his eyes closed, he would need to enjoy it now and hope for the best when that time came.

Morning soon came. Poppy wasn't teased that morning, neither was Ryou for that instant. Instead Yami said he had something important to announce. Once everybody was awake they waited for Yami to say what he was going to say.  
"I'm very close to mastering this shadow travelling. By tomorrow, we should be ready to leave." he said to them as Poppy's face lit up with excitement and she smiled widely. They were close, she was close. She could stop the thing she created. Ryou smiled sadly, whilst it was a good thing that thing from the back of his mind from last night still lingered. In a way he wanted to be selfish and hoped Yami never found a way, but at the same time he knew it had to be done. He looked at Poppy, she was smiling a wide smile to herself and jumping her legs in excitement. Yugi noticed the look on his friends face, he would need to pull him away later and ask him what was up. Poppy said she was going to walk Gin, Teá followed her; the two had become quite good friends and that made Yugi glad. Yugi looked at Ryou as he watched Poppy and Teá walk away.  
"Hey Ryou, can I speak to you for a minute?" Yugi asked as Ryou looked at him with a slightly confused look and nodded his head following his short friend.

They walked to the backyard. It didn't have grass, it was just slab and pebbles; it did make it easier to clean up after the dog.  
"You seem worried, what's the matter?" Yugi asked him with a concerned smile on his face. Ryou looked away slightly, not too sure if he should voice his concerns. He decided it would be best to.  
"What if the spirit of the ring returns to the ring and finds it way back to me again? If I hang around Poppy I'll be putting her at risk, even more so with what has happened in recent events." He said to his smaller friend looking at his reflection in the puddle from yesterdays down pour. Yugi smiled sympathetically at his white haired friend, he could understand why he was concerned about what could happen; the spirit of the ring wasn't a nice person, even before recent events.  
"She seems to really like you. If she likes you as much as she's showing then she'll stick by you even if that does happen. Just like we will." Yugi said to him to cheer up his friend. Ryou looked at his friend and smiled weakly at him. It was just those words he needed to hear.  
"Thank you Yugi, I needed hear that." He said to him with a calming smile. Yugi nodded his head in welcome and smile back as the two headed inside. Ryou felt more confident about himself, he was glad with what he heard and he knew Yugi wouldn't say something just to make him feel better. Now all he had to do was tell Poppy how he felt, face to face.


	9. Truth revealed!

_Guess the OST as you read. Hint - Key Studios. Content in this chapter may distress readers, I am not held responsible for any distress you feel...You have been warned._

Disclaimer: This is a fan-made story. Ownership rights and licensing to go: Kunihisha Sugishima, Kazuki Takahashi, Studio Gallop, Nihon Ad Systems, Magna Pacific, 4Licensing Corporation, Konami, Tokyo TV, Animax. Please support the official release.

* * *

Teá and Poppy had been walking Gin for about half an hour. He was still pulling on his lead as Poppy was still a little apprehensive about letting his off until he was fully recovered. Her and Teá was just having general chit chat about things that were pointless to most such as school, what they wanted to be after they left, their dreams.  
"I want to be a electrician. That's what I was training to be back in England." She said to her smiling widely.  
"What about you Teá?" She asked her raising an eyebrow slightly in question as they stopped at the crossing and waited for the light to turn green.  
"I want to be a dancer. I plan to move to the USA to carry out my dream." She said, the desire and devotion clear in her voice. Poppy smiled widely at her friend.  
"I think you'd be great at it!" She said to her as Teá nodded her thanks. The lights turned green indicating that they could cross now. As the three of them crossed they spotted a cloaked figure on the other side.

The girls were hesitant but knew that had to keep crossing to the other side otherwise they would be holding up traffic. Once Gin caught site of the cloaked figure he pulled his ears back and started snarling with barking. Poppy was trying to shush the dog and pull him in the other direction as they started walking.  
"I'm sorry!" She said over to the figure as her and Teá started walking the other way, Poppy pulling at Gin's lead.  
"Come on Gin. Be quiet they haven't done anything." She said quietly to the dog as he continued to bark and snarl. The cloaked figure just started laughing at them slightly.  
"Doesn't know when to shut it's mouth does it." The figure said, bringing down it's hood. Poppy and Teá eyes widened in horror at who they saw. It was Regret, but didn't they have to find her? Noticing the confused yet fearful look she giggled slightly.  
"That's right, you were meant to find me. You were taking too long and we grew bored. Oh! Watch this you'll be entertained to know end." She said taking out as she revealed her arm with her duel disk with her deck inside and drew a card before smirking. Laying the card on her duel disk a monster appeared. It was Guardian of the Winged Fortress #2. The blue dragon flared it's wings with it's cry. Poppy and Teá stood confused as Gin continued barking.  
"Let's demonstrate on your mutt. Guardian, attack that pesky animal and get rid of it!" She said as the dragon opened it's mouth firing a ball of fire at it.  
"But it's a hologram right? There's no way it can hurt Gin!" Teá said as they begun feeling the heat of the fire ball. Poppy panicked and yanked her dogs lead dragging him by and pulling him onto his side. The fireball landed on the ground where Gin was, leaving scratch marks and setting small pieces of grass on the side alight. Gin stood up, continuing his snarling and barking.  
"That wasn't a hologram!" Poppy said looking at the grass, that could have been Gin. Teá begun pulling Poppy away as Poppy kept a tight hold of the leash.  
"We need to get out of here!" She said as Poppy nodded her head without thinking. She yanked Gin again making him look back. Poppy gave him a stern look as the dog followed his master and her friend.  
"How is she doing that?! Teá asked as Poppy shook her head.  
"I don't know. She's learnt some tricks while Yami was trying to learn his. Everyone is in danger if she stays!" Poppy said as they turned an alley and hid behind a industrial garbage can. It wasn't the most pleasant, but they were able to hid here until they were sure Regret was gone for a while. Poppy kept a tight grip around Gin as she was stroking his head to make him stop snarling. The two girls looked at each other. Poppy didn't have her duel disk on her like she was meant to and Teá didn't duel. Peaking out slightly from behind the trash can Poppy could see people running the opposite direction as Regret walked around, a twisted smile on her face.  
"Come out my little weak minded friends. Come out a play. I don't bite and it won't hurt much." She said as Poppy quickly brought her head back around and pressed her finger over her lips. Teá nodded and clasped both her hands over her mouth. Poppy took a deep breath before looking around. Her eyes widened in fear as she was face to face with Regret.  
"Found you." She said making Poppy, Teá and Gin stand and quickly run from their spot as the Winged Guardian of the Fortress #2 fired another fireball. The girls were scarred.  
"You moved. You're not meant to move." Regret said, her eyes with an evil glint in them, her smile turning more into a smirk. Gin went back to his snarling as the girls moved back to try and get away from the woman advancing them.

She was close. The dragon roared once more stretched out it's wings. Poppy and Teá grabbed each others hands looking at the woman fearfully.  
"This is it." Teá said as Poppy remained quiet and nodded her head.  
"It was nice meeting you Teá" Poppy said to her as she nodded her head in agreement. The dragon opened it's mouth, firing a fireball making both the girls crouch down closing their eyes tightly waiting for the impact. That never came though. The two opened their eyes to see Gearfried the Iron knight pushing back the attack at the dragon, destroying it.  
"Joey!" Teá yelled as Regret looked back over her shoulder with pure disgust. Poppy and Teá looked glad to see him, not only that but Tristan and Ryou were there. They must have split into groups. They started going over before Regret glared at them.  
"Don't even think about it or we will kill them here and now. I mean it." She said, her eyes showing full malicious grace. She meant every word she spat.  
"And what is a Joey? Isn't that a baby Kangaroo?" Regret asked, looking over at the blonde with disgust and hatred in her eyes. She glared at him before speaking again.  
"Certainly looks like a mangy animal. Go away you animal, I have work to do." She said turning her head back to Poppy and Teá who were backing away from her Gin doing the same whilst keeping his teeth bared. Joey glared at her before shouting at the woman.  
"You're the one acting like an animal you crazy woman!" He shouted over at her, making Regret smirk. She looked at Gearfried who stood guard as the girls backed away before looking back at the girls with a dark smirk.  
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A voice behind them said as the two turned their heads slightly to see a smirking Bakura with his arms crossed. Poppy and Teá turned around, they were trapped between two evils, which one was lesser? Bakura grabbed the two girls by the back of their shirts pulling them back to him, making Poppy drop Gin's lead in surprise.  
"Let us go!" Poppy said at him as he just his head between the two girls.  
"Why should I do that? You want to save your brother and you will draw someone to me. You're both coming with us." He said as the two girls looked at him in terror. To Teá, he was scary enough when he was just inhabiting Ryou's body, but having his own body made him more scary. Gin launched himself at his leg, digging his teeth into the mans flesh making him grunt in pain before looking down at the dog with a glare.  
"Gin, get away. Stop it!" Poppy said to the dog as he continued to pull trying to pull Bakura's leg from under him. In a way they were lucky, Bakura couldn't do anything with the dog attached to his leg and holding the two girls against their wills by their shirt necks. Instead he growled at the dog. Regret walked over to the three whilst looking at the dog.  
"Mangy mutt learn your place!" She said before planting the sole of her foot into the dogs neck kicking off of Bakura's leg.  
"Gin!" Poppy shouted at her dog as he skidded on his side a little bit away before sitting up, snarling and showing his teeth. He was not one to back down. Regret looked at the group, a smirk still playing on her face.  
"You have an hour. Bring duel disks." She said before opening shadows herself behind them. She let Bakura walk in backwards first, the smirk still playing on his face as Poppy and Teá tried their best to break free. Poppy felt something moving in her pocket in her pocket before it fell out. She tried her best to yank herself out as Regret just grabbed her wrists, pulling her from Bakura's grasp much to his amusement. She pulled her close to her face, smirking.  
"To think, we were one of the same. I was the confidence you needed, the hardness you craved, the iron shell you cast upon yourself to protect yourself from others. And here I am, your own regrets betraying everything you wanted. You will become living proof as to why human selfishness is a sin and will die from it." She said to her as Poppy looked at her with wide eyes. Regret narrowed her eyes slightly with her glare looking at the group of boys behind them before walking through the shadows, dragging Poppy behind her by her wrist despite her protests. The boys ran towards the shadow like portal, only to land on their faces when they tried jumping through.

The boys started to stand up. Gin himself stood up and jogged to the spot that the portal was, sniffing around for anything. Ryou spotted Poppy's phone. That was what fell out of her pocket. Picking up the silver flip phone her opened the top. It gave it a sad look. Her background was a picture of her and him pulling faces at the camera. He remembered that day. It was the third time he stayed round since Yami first said his warning. They were just acting silly and decided to pull faces whilst taking pictures to see who could make the silliest face. He didn't know she kept the pictures though. Gin walked over to the boys after he was done sniffing. Tristan was ringing Yugi and Yami to tell him what happened and how much time they were given. Ryou pocketed the phone into his Jean pockets as he rubbed the dog on the head between his ears. He felt bad that he couldn't stop it, they had arrived just that little bit too late and now Poppy and Teá were both lost in the shadows, god knows what happening to them. It didn't take long for Yugi and Yami to arrive.  
"All of us do not need to go. It would be best if a couple of us stay behind in the hospital in case they come after Steven to kill him whilst keeping his mind trapped in the shadow realm." Yami said to them as they thought who should go.  
"Me and Joey will stay behind. Joey is the one who duels out of us to. Plus it makes sense if you three go." Tristan said as Joey was about to protest until Tristan nudged him painfully in the ribs. Joey reluctantly agreed and signalled Gin to follow them. Gin looked back at where the portal was, he didn't want to leave in case his master came back and instead laid down with his chin on the ground and front paws either side of his head. The Alsation flattened his ears as he looked at the two. It was clear the dog wasn't going to move. The boys sighed, the dog was stubborn but in a way they expecting him to be considering Poppy was his master; the two looked out for each other. Yugi bent down and quickly rubbed the dogs head.  
"We'll get them back, just wait tight." He told the dog who looked at him for a brief second with only his eyes and then looked forward again as if keeping watch but stayed low at the same time.  
"Make sure to call us as soon as ya get out." Joey said to his friends as they parted way; Joey and Tristan for the hospital and Yugi, Ryou and Yami for the shadows. Yami took a deep breath and held out his hand at the place they were standing, closing his eyes to concentrate. A shadow like portal appeared under them, sending them plummeting into the ground.

The boys landed on the floor with a thud. They didn't know where they were, it was black, pitch black. They could hear crying in the distance, it didn't sound far and it was recognisable. It sounded like Teá.  
"Teá!" Yugi yelled out as the crying stopped quickly responding with a shout back of "Yugi!" They ran in the direction of the voice. Teá soon came into site as the group of boys neared. Teá looked at the boys before running towards them, falling to her knees and hugging Yugi tightly. She didn't think she would see them again. Yugi hugged her back tightly to comfort her.  
"Teá are you alright?" Yami asked voicing his concern. Teá nodded her head as she looked up at Yami , she wasn't injured but she was definitely shaken.  
"I'm fine. This is Poppy's mind! She really does have demons that helped form regret, she has done some terrible things. Whatever you see, don't like it make you think badly of her!" Teá said them as they stood there in confusion.  
"Teá what do you mean?" Ryou asked her in question. Before Teá could say anything another voice spoke.  
"What she means my ex vessel is that the further into this mind you go the deeper and more gruesome the history becomes. However that doesn't concern me nor do I care, I have what I was trying to gain and that is the Pharaoh on my type of grounds." A dark voice said, coming into view. Bakura stood in front of the group and pointed at the Pharaoh.  
"We'll be having a shadow game with higher risks. The loser has to give up their physical body and return to the item in which they came. Of course I have no intention of loosing as I enjoy walking around in my own body again." He said, crossing his arms with a dark smirk.  
"Bakura, I accept your challenge. I'm not duelling you to keep my body, but to put you back into the depths that you shouldn't have left." Yami said to him, a determined look on his face as Bakura continued to smirk. Shadows formed around their wrists forming a duel disk.  
"Yami are you sure?!" Yugi asked his older counterpart. He gave him a reassuring smile.  
"Don't worry about me, find and help Poppy." He said as Yugi nodded. Teá begun standing up, shaking as she did. She didn't want to return there, that's where Regret left her to find her own way out.  
"I'll stay with Yami. I...I don't want to go back there." She said closing her eyes tightly. Yugi nodded in understanding as him and Ryou begun running back away from the two, hearing the shouts of "let's duel". Yugi knew that Yami wouldn't loose, he had every faith in his mind he wouldn't. Ryou on the other hand was more worried about Poppy and what was happening to her.

As they ran something appeared in front of them suddenly, out of know where making the two boys jump.  
"So you did arrive...I'm glad! She's back there somewhere, cowardly shaking in the dark covering her ears and closing her eyes. Did you know she's afraid of the dark and Claustrophobic? She's making wonderful sounds of fear, "Help me, get me out of here! I want to go home! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Ha!" Regret said, twirling around in her own bliss as she spoke, a look of pure joy on her face. Yugi looked at her in disgust as Ryou tightened his hands into fists. He never felt this angry before towards anyone, he didn't think he could.  
"How can you torture someone like that? Even more so when you were created from that regret!?" Ryou yelled at her making both Yugi and Regret look at him in surprise. Regret soon regained herself and smirked at him, moving behind him whilst placing a hand on his arm.  
"She doesn't know me as well as she likes to think. I wasn't born from her Regrets, I'm the one that made her do her hayness crimes and manipulated her into thinking she did them by herself! I started coming into existences when she grew a little bit jealous of her baby brother. Just that slip of jealously and here I am." She said and Ryou pulled his arm away. Regret made a fake hurt look on her face, putting her hands behind her back with her fingers laced together.  
"Now that wasn't very nice. Tell you what I'll show you two a treat! You're going to love it." She said smirking before disappearing. The boys didn't know what she meant and continued to run forward in hopes to find Poppy.

The place around them begun changing it's shape. Tree's started forming, grass started forming, they soon entered a field. The boys became confused as to where they were. They heard whimpering and ran towards that sound. What they saw, shocked them both. In front of them was a younger looking Steven, his red hair more wild than it was now, bright blue eyes and some freckles under them. He wore a baggy shirt and jeans with some trainers. Kneeling on the floor was a younger version of Poppy. Long blonde hair up in bunches that sat on top of her head and big bright blue eyes. She was a yellow sun dress with black buckle up shoes. In the buses next to the kids was a couple of bags. Held between the ground and the little girls hands was a puppy. Steven looked at it with a twisted smirk on his face as he picked up the stick he held tightly in his hands and brought it down onto the animal causing it do whimper and squeal in pain. The look in both their eyes was not the normal look they carried, both full of anger, full of hate and malice. Their eyes were full of evil, unlike today where good showed. The two boys watched in horror as the red head constantly brought down the stick onto the animal, the stick getting bloodier and bloodier with every strike.  
"Oh...it stopped moving..." The little girl said, disappointment in her voice as the boy look at the animal. It laid in a pool of it's own blood, not moving, not even making a sound.  
"That's no fun...let's hide it otherwise the adults will find it." The boy said, picking the animal up by the scruff of the neck. Poppy nodded her head with a small "uh-huh" and grabbed their bags as they took off into the field to hide the body somewhere. Regret was standing next to them as they watched, they weren't aware until she spoke making them jump.  
"Isn't that horrible? And I made her do it. That cry of pain, the smell of fresh iron, oh it was a good day. I made her do worse things, I even made her smother her own baby brother just because she was a little jealous. She wasn't caught for that one, made it look like sudden infant death." She said, crackling to herself with a twisted smile. Ryou and Yugi looked at the woman in disgust. She was a revolting woman.

Regret looked at the two and clicked her fingers, taking them to a new place. They stood in a dark room, a bed was to the side and a chair was in the middle of it. On the chair stood a girl who was older this time. She was about twelve. She stood barefoot on the chair whilst throwing something up in the air around a sturdy pipe. They could hear the rain outside. It looked like she was placing something over the top of her head. The lightening outside struck as they caught a glimpse of what was happening. Poppy stood on the chair, tightening a noose around her neck before looking back at a note in her hand.  
"I don't deserve forgiveness. After I'm gone she can forget about me and move on, it's for the best." She said as she dropped the note to the floor and kicked the chair out from under her. As she dangled Regret crackled more to herself. Ryou on impulse moved forward, when he tried to grab her he just went through her. He was solid, or she wasn't solid. She continued to dangle, the sound of chocking becoming more and more frequent. They heard sounds coming up the stairs as the door burst open. Poppy's mother ran forward and grabbed her daughters body as what could have been her uncle pulled out a pocket knife and cut the rope. Afterwards the room disappeared. Ryou looked at his hands in shock, he couldn't do anything to stop that from happening. It scarred him, Yugi wasn't brilliant either, he was shaking on the spot after witnessing one of his friends trying to kill themselves for crimes they hadn't even committed willingly.  
"In a way it's a good thing she didn't succeed...Do you want to see how now?" Regret asked as she vanished once more leaving the boys in the dark. Ryou ran forward, he didn't even look at Yugi who had called out his name.  
"Good luck." The smaller boy yelled as he stayed where he was. He was too terrified to move on, he didn't know what he expected, or if there was even more to expect.

After what felt like forever, Ryou heard someone whimpering to themselves whilst continuously saying "I'm sorry". It made him run faster. He soon came across the sound source. Poppy was sitting on the ground with her legs to her chest and hands on her head with her eyes closed tightly shut. Her cloths were ripped in various places, mostly like from Regret deciding to torture her for her own amusement. Ryou ran towards the girl and once there he quickly dropped to his knees.  
"Poppy can you hear me? I'm here, you're not alone." He said putting a hand onto her shoulder.  
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She kept repeating through choking back tears. Ryou looked at her arms. Scars were visible, on the of arm she wouldn't usually show. His thoughts were confirmed in a way, she self mutilated. He wondered when though, grieving? When sad or upset? Now was not the time to question that. He pulled her into a tight hug feeling her shake against his body.  
"You have nothing to be sorry about. It's alright." He said to her quietly as he felt her move slightly. Poppy looked up at him, fear showing clearly in her eyes. Ryou himself pulled back slightly so he could look at her face. Her cheek was bruised, hair was messy, her eyes blood shot and red. Blood trickled down from her nose slightly, it was almost as if she had been in a fight.  
"How did you get so beat up?" He asked her worried as Poppy stayed quite, with only the sound of laughter behind them. The two looked behind themselves and saw Regret standing there.  
"She needed to be punished for what she did." She said, a dark smirk on her face. Poppy nodded her head in slight agreement. That would explain why she was saying "I'm sorry" over and over again.  
"But you're lying! You said it yourself it was you." Ryou said to her, a glare on his face. The boy hardly glared, it took Poppy by surprise. What surprised her more was how he was defending her, protecting her. She was shocked but glad. In all honesty she didn't think he was the type of person to do so, she was glad she was wrong. What he said came back into her mind.  
"I'm...innocent?" She asked him in a whisper looking at him hopefully. Ryou nodded his head with a small reassuring smile. Poppy's eyes widened slightly. She was innocent, those words and her name together in the same sentence. She was glad they were. Poppy looked back at Regret, she was still scarred.  
"You were the one doing it all this long?" She said to her as Regret chuckled darkly.  
"I'll continued doing it to! In fact, we're going to duel! The loser dies and the winner continues living in the outside world as if they were always there. Sounds fair. Besides, you need to win back your brothers mind right." She said, smirking darkly as she clicked her fingers showing an image of Steven in his own fears back in the shadow realm. Poppy shivered slightly as she begun to stand up. Ryou stood up with her, keeping a tight grip on her.  
"I...I won't loose!" Poppy yelled at the woman as she continued her smirk. Shadows forming around the two girls wrists to form a duel disk. Regret looked at Ryou.  
"I would let go if I were you, if you don't I'll trap your mind forever." She said as Ryou kept his grip tightly around Poppy. Poppy looked at Ryou, touching his hand slightly with a small smile, her eyes still full of tears. She looked up at her white haired friend.  
"I'll be fine. I promise." She said to him, gently linking her pinkie finger to his. Ryou wasn't too sure, but sighed and nodded his head with a small smile and gave her a tight hug without saying nothing more. He wasn't too sure what to say if he was honest.

Ryou let go of Poppy as she looked back at Regret and removed her deck from her Jean pockets, placing it into the Deck holder slot.  
"Let's duel!" The two girls said. One with a scarred and hopeless look who looked close to breaking down at any second. The other, a dark and sinister smirk, eyes full of murderess intent. This duel would determine if good or evil would win.


	10. Promises kept

_I suck at writing duels so may be a bit short when the duelling happens. Sorry!  
I always feel awkward some scenes. Have a guess at which one it could be!_

_Disclaimer: This is a fan-made story. Ownership rights and licensing to go: Kunihisha Sugishima, Kazuki Takahashi, Studio Gallop, Nihon Ad Systems, Magna Pacific, 4Licensing Corporation, Konami, Tokyo TV, Animax. Please support the official release.  
_

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Singing could be heard as a little girl made a daisy chain in her back yard. Her orange haired friend was helping the little girl's mother in the kitchen. It was the little girl's birthday, today she turned five, ten days after Steven. He said he would help her mother with the house work instead. The two were close, brother and sister close. The little girl hummed to herself and then smiled widely to herself holding up her creation and then closing her big blue eyes happy with her work. Standing up, she was about to brush off her dress but didn't want to put the chain on the floor. Her mother said putting things in her mouth was dirty even if it was flowers. Looking around she gently put the chain on her own head, which slanted slightly, and brushed off her dress. She then removed the chain carefully from her head and turned around running into the kitchen.  
"Steven Steven! I have a present for you!" She said, running into her kitchen and quickly placed her hands behind her back. Steven turned around with a confused look on his face.  
"Why me it's your birthday." Steven said, looking at his friend with confusion. Poppy smiled widely and giggled to herself.  
"Put your hands over your eyes and close them!" She said, swinging her body backwards and forwards with her large smile. Steven closed his eyes tightly and placed his hands over his eyes. Poppy jumped slightly on the balls of her feet. She took her hands out from behind her back and placed the daisy chain on top of Steven's head.  
"Ok you can open your eyes now!" She said smiling at him widely, putting her hands behind her back again. Steven felt the top of his head slightly, removing the daisy chain to look at it before looking at Poppy oddly.  
"Mummy said I'm not allowed to spend my pocket money on sweeties, so I made that instead as a thank you for helping mummy today. I know it's not the same." She said, furrowing her brows slightly with a small smile. Steven shook his head putting it back on again.  
"I love it! Thanks Poppy." He said with a large smile himself as Poppy jumped on the balls of her feet dragging him into a tight hug. She was happy that day, innocent, with nothing to fear and not knowing what the future held for the both of them; just like it should have been.

The two girls drew out their five cards, determination and fear on Poppy's face as the shadows came from behind the smirking girl, her eyes narrow, her smirk sinister; enough to chill even the warmest of lights and darken the brightest of day. Poppy couldn't help but watch the shadows cover the two. Ryou stood behind her as he watched the shadows to. Regret whistled slightly making Poppy snap her head.  
"This is like your duel with that terrible child you call a brother. The monsters are near enough real and the attacks hurt. However, there's a twist. With every attack you will feel the pain of every wound you inflicted onto others in your lifetime. I will feel the same pain just to be nice." She said, drawing her card indicating she would go first. Poppy looked worried but tried to keep her face brave. Regret looked at her card and smirked some more to herself.  
"I place one card face down. I now play Abaki in attack mode (1700) and end my turn." She said, putting down a card as a red like monster came out holding something in its hand. It also had a sinister smirk on its much like its controller. Poppy nodded her head and drew her own card. She had all monster cards, them being Amazoness Tiger, 3-hump Lacooda, Andro Sphnix, Berserk Gorilla, Silver Fang and Cat girl.  
"I play Berserk Gorilla in attack mode (2000). Because of its effect I must attack even if I don't want to. So I attack your Abaki!" Poppy said to her as the Gorilla opened its mouth firing a beam of what looked like fire at the fiend monster. Regret held her arms up to her face as the monster was destroyed removing three hundred life points dropping them to three thousand seven hundred. She couldn't help but grip her teeth slightly as she felt a sharp whack like hit in her right side, causing it to start bruising as soon as it happened. She then smirked and laughed slightly.  
"You activated his special ability. Once Abaki is sent to the graveyard we both loose five hundred life points each." She said putting her arms by her side as she felt another whack in the same side, this time forming a cut. Poppy felt a sharp cut in her back making her clench her teeth together. Years of self-harming were coming back to haunt her in more way's then one it seemed to her. Poppy couldn't help but end her turn there as she couldn't do anything else. Regret took her draw and begun her turn.  
"I activate the magic card pot of greed; this allows me to draw two more cards." She said drawing two cards then looking back at Poppy again.  
"I now play Dark Resonator in attack mode and end my turn." She said. Poppy was confused; she didn't know why Regret was playing monsters all in attack mode, even more so she wondered what that face down card was. Drawing a card herself she looked at it. She had drawn Megamorph. However she needed her life points to be lower, which she didn't want.  
"I play Cat Girl in attack mode." She said putting the card down as a girl stood in the spot she put the card. The cat girl hissed pulling her ears back at the Dark Resonator.  
"Because of Berserks Gorilla I have no choice but to attack your monster." She said, slightly disappointed. The Gorilla opened its mouth and fired its beam once more as Regret held out her hand.  
"I play Chivalry! This lets me negate and destroy your Berserk Gorilla. Bye bye pesky ape." She said, waving slightly as the monster was destroyed making the cat girl jump slightly. Poppy ended her turn once more.

The two girls had continued. Regret was at three thousand life points; Poppy was struggling to keep hers above fifteen hundred. She was only doing so by activating spell cards that regained her life points, if she hadn't she would be long gone. Regret was a tough duelist, tougher than Steven. Poppy could feel herself getting tired, numerous wounds that she had inflicted was on her body; cuts on her back, her arms, legs, torso and even wrists. Wounds she inflicted, she could feel the opposite side of her stitches bleed that would probably result in stitches too. Poppy had her hand on it, it was much deeper and much sorer then the one on her other side, maybe that was because of bruising as well though. That was when she was desperate. Ryou stood behind her, he couldn't do anything or he would be sent to the shadow realm and he wouldn't be able to support her from there. Instead, he stayed on the side lines, supporting Poppy when she begun to lose hope. Regret had on the field God of Darkness – Dark God in attack mode (3000) and Horn Imp in defence mode (1000) whilst Poppy had Interplanetarypurplythorny Beast in defence mode (2200) and Silver Fang in defence mode (800). The thing is, she would have used Megamorph however that Dark god couldn't be destroyed in battle as she found out. It was Poppys turn. She was still trying to decide what to play. She saw two cards that could help her, paralyzing potion and eternal rest. If she played them both this turn she could get rid of that god. Nodding her head she brought her blood covered hand to her cards.  
"I play paralyzing potion on the field and target your Dark God! This will stop him from being able to attack." She said as the potion spilled over the god freezing his muscles. Regret rolled her eyes, barely a scratch on her.  
"Big deal, you still can't destroy him in battle." She said as Poppy nodded her head.  
"That's right. But I can use Eternal Rest that will destroy him." She said, playing spell card on the field. As she did a demon looking monster rose from the ground and threw its prayer beads at the god, making it scream in terror and smash to pieces. Regret had a look of shock on her face, she was not expecting that. She switched Silver Fang to attack mode, making the wolf stand up.  
"I now attack your Horn Imp with Silver Fang" She said pointing at the imp as Silver Fang howled before throwing itself at the imp, biting into it and destroying it. Regret glared at her, her life points were exposed, she didn't have a single card in her hand. Poppy ended her turn there; she didn't want to take her tribute monster out of defence mode as that was defending her life points. Regret drew her card before glaring back at Poppy.  
"I pass my turn." She said, putting a hand on her hip. She was no longer smirking. Poppy's eyes widened slightly, she couldn't believe it, maybe she had a chance. The injured girl drew her next card. The card she drew was Photon Sabre Tiger.  
"I play Photon Sabre Tiger. Because I don't control another one he loses hundred attack points. But now I can attack your life points with my tiger!" She shouted at the girl pointing at Regret. The Tiger roared before charging over and latching onto Regret making her clench her teeth in pain as she held out her arm to take the bite and to protect her face. It dropped her life points to 1800, it also caused her back to split open.  
"I know use Silver Fang to attack you to!" She said as the wolf howled into the air and charged over itself, latching onto her arm that she still held out just making Regret clench her teeth again. Her life points dropped to six hundred making Poppy smile to herself. She had a chance, she was so close. One more turn, just one more turn and maybe she could win.  
"You will pay for that you little cow." Regret said, drawing her next card.

They were close. Poppy had trouble trying to keep herself up. She was beat up, hurt, bleeding, she felt very weak and light headed and she didn't look too good in the skin complexion either. Regret wasn't any better off. The life points difference between the two was fifty, regret with one hundred and Poppy with fifty.  
"Just hang in there Poppy. You got this!" Ryou yelled over before being hushed by Regret who threw an angry glare at the white haired boy. He couldn't help but glare back slightly before looking back at Poppy. It was Poppy's turn. She had two Photon Sabra Tiger's on the field bringing their attack to two thousand. That was the only monsters she had left. Her deck only had five cards left. Regret had Helpoemer on the field. He also had 2000 attack points. Poppy couldn't attack him without losing her monster as well and if she was honest she didn't want to. She looked at the card she drew and played it onto the field.  
"I play The Big March of Animals. This raises the attack of all beast monsters on my side of the field by 200 for each beast I have. I only need one to destroy you. Now Photon, attack her Helpoemer!" Poppy said over to her beast weakly as the tiger launched itself at the monster. Regret didn't have anything, she had used her best cards at the beginning of the duel and some point in the middle leaving nothing for the end. As the monster was destroyed, Regret's life points dropped to zero making her lose. Poppy smiled to herself, dropping to her knees. She was weak. The monsters on the field disappeared as Regret screamed, feeling her body begin ripped away bit by bit. Poppy couldn't help but was as she had her arms around her sides feeling the sharp pain of in them. Ryou quickly ran up to her, putting his one arm around her shoulder and holding onto her arm and his free hand onto her arm. The shadows started disappearing around them as they heard shouting. Poppy looked weakly with her eyes blurry to the shouting. The three of them were running over to them two; Yami had what looked like a ring with very pointy circular triangles dangling from them in his hand.  
"Are you guys OK?" Teá shouted over to them as Poppy ignored the question and went back to watching Regret. She held her head in her hands as she curled over in pain. Regret looked at the group, a murderess glare on her face as she ran at the group. She reached her hand out about to grab the weakened Poppy until she felt her body start to disappear. Her eyes widened as she closed her hand inches away from Poppies face. For the first time, Regret had what looked like fear in her eyes as her body vanished once and for all.  
"S-s-she needs to release Steven..." Poppy said quietly before losing her own consciousness due to pain. She couldn't take that anymore.  
Ryou shook her slightly and begun panicking when she wouldn't stir. Yami checked her over before looking over at Regret who had vanished into nothing. But as Regret did the place started becoming unstable with the ground shaking and bits of ceiling falling from the sky above them.  
"She's just unconsciousness; we must get out of here. With Regret gone this part of Poppy's mind had become unstable and started to tear itself down. They hoped it was a good thing, a new beginning. It meant she didn't have to live with the regret she had been carrying for all those years if that was the case. Yami lifted his hand up, feeling himself being pulled back into the puzzle now that the person who gave him his own body was gone. He felt sad, it was nice; but he had his own destiny to fulfil. He was just glad to have the experience of his own body again even for a short time. Ryou picked up the injured Poppy bridal style as they ran out of the portal like hole Yami summoned. As they did, Yami felt himself fully pulled back into the puzzle once more.

"Ya know the hospital staff won't be happy with ya sitting on the bed like dat." Joey said to the person sitting on the end of a hospital bed with his legs crossed. The person just looked at Joey through the corner of his eyes, remaining quiet before looking back at the person in the bad once more. The blonde sighed as he slammed a hand onto his forehead.  
"Dis is just like when we first met!" He yelled into the air as Teá nudged his ribs hard.  
"Be quiet, you're in a hospital remember? If you're going to be loud go and stand outside with Gin in front of the hospital. I'm sure he could do with the company." Teá said as Joey just mumbled under his voice about him not being a common house hold pet. The person in the bed stirred slightly making the person sitting on the bed lean forward slightly, his hands on his knees. He couldn't lean too far forward, he wasn't allowed to. She opened her eyes slightly after tightening them again after they reacted to the light. As opened her eyes blinking a couple of times. The others quickly gathered round themselves as Poppy's eyes focused. Around her were her friends, all but one. Directly in front of her was Steven. He was back. Poppy's eyes widened slightly as Steven smiled widely at her.  
"We should stop meeting like this, as much as I like hospitals this isn't a great way to meet up." He said to her as Poppy smiled widely at him and begun sitting up.  
"You shouldn't move around too much. They had to do a blood transfusion. You lost quite a bit back there. You're lucky that Tristan is the same blood type as you." Yugi said to her making her nod her head slightly. Tristan rubbed his arm slightly.  
"My arm still feels dead!" He said to the group making Poppy giggle slightly. Poppy looked at the group, it was almost too real, nearly impossible to her. She looked at Steven who raised an eyebrow in question slightly and reached her hand out. Steven watched her hand as Poppy quickly grabbed some of his hair and pulled making him slam his hands onto his head and pull back as Poppy pulled forward.  
"You are there." She said as she let go, causing Steven to roll backwards off the bed and slam into the floor as he had pulled pretty hard backwards.  
"You need to be gentle with me I had skin grafts!" he said from the floor rolling over onto his stomach and standing up. Poppy tilted her head slightly in question as Steven sighed and turned around lifting up his Pyjama top that the hospital had given him along with bottoms.  
"That's going to leave a scar…" Poppy said to him sadly as the red head smiled widely to himself. She couldn't see anything as his back was bandaged up. The only thing she could see was his shoulder blades due to his slim build but that was it. However, skin grafts always left scaring, no matter how big or small.  
"I know right isn't that cool!" He said, pulling his shirt down one more and turning around as if he was a child. Poppy looked at him sadly making him raise an eyebrow in question.  
"But I caused that." She said as he rubbed the back of his head and shrugged his shoulders.  
"Point being? You did what you had to do. Besides, you kept your promise that's all that matters!" Steven said to him making her smile slightly. Yugi was about to say something until the nurse walked in making them all turn their heads. The nurse looked at them before walking in and turning to her side with her arm pointing to the door.  
"Everybody out! And you Steven get back into your bed! Those grafts were only put in two days ago you need to let them heal!" She said as the group apologised and started walking out of the room whilst saying their goodbyes to Poppy. Steven tried sneaking out with them, only to have his ear grabbed by the nurse.  
"Bed young man."  
"But I-"  
"Bed!" She retorted before dragging him over to his bed. He was grateful that him and Poppy shared a ward, but he really wanted to stretch his legs. The nurse closed the door behind herself and walking over to Poppy with a gentle smile.  
"Just doing a check-up dear you'll be fine." She said as Poppy nodded her head with a small "uh-huh."

It had been a week since the pair was in hospital. Poppy played against Steven in fun little games of duel monsters and the gang visited regularly. Poppy's mother even visited the two. The person who wasn't there though was Ryou and it saddened her. Today was the day they were being released from the hospital. They waited outside the hospital for Poppy's mother to pick them up. Steven was given painkiller and three months' worth of Olazapine as his Schizophrenia was more on the positive side than negative. He was very good at hiding it though so it took the doctors a while to find out what side of the Schizophrenic spectrum he was on. Like others he had his good days and bad days. Poppy sighed to herself as she leaned against the wall.  
"What's up?" Steven asked her as he leaned against the wall using his hands as stands. He was told not to lean his weight onto his back yet.  
"Ryou hasn't come here at all…I wonder if he doesn't care anymore." She said to him, furrowing her brows.  
"You really like this guy huh?" Steven asked her in a questioning tone. Poppy's face felt hot as she nodded her head. He sighed to himself looking up at the sky.  
"Well why don't you go to his house once we get home? Take Gin with you in case anything happens and talk to him." Steven said as Poppy looked at her friend with slight surprise. Steven looked back at her with an eyebrow raised slightly in question.  
"What?" He asked her as Poppy shook her head and smiled at him.  
"Nothing. Thank you though. I'll go do that." She said to him as they heard a car beep. The two looked at where the beeping was and saw a blue Honda with Poppy's mum inside waving to the two. She couldn't leave the vehicle otherwise they'd ticket her. The two teens begun walking towards the car, got in and closed the doors shut. Poppy was sitting in the front and Steven in the back. If anything, they were both looking forward to having a reasonably normal life; even though Poppy's mother now lived at her grandma's house to keep it from being sold off. Poppy didn't mind though, it meant more room for her, Gin and Steven; plus friends that came round.

Poppy stood outside the block of apartments. Gin was off his leash and next to her. She looked at the dog with a small smile.  
"I'm going up. Wait here. If anything happens I'll whistle OK?" She said as the dog barked and sat himself down. Poppy nodded her head and begun walking to the door and opened it. She looked at the mailing boxes; one said "flat thirteen – Bakura Ryou." Nodding her head to herself Poppy begun making her way up the stairs to flat number thirteen. It didn't take her long to reach number thirteen. She took a deep breath as she stood outside the door. Exhaling she knocked on it and placed her hands behind her back. Shuffling could be heard inside and then the unlocking mechanism on the door was heard before it opened showing a very tired looking Ryou. He looked at Poppy in surprise as she smiled at him.  
"Hey Ryou. Can we talk?" She asked him in a questioning tone as he nodded his head and stepped aside letting Poppy walk in. Poppy took off her shoes as politeness and waited by the door before Ryou said she could take a seat if she would like. Poppy did so and sat down on the couch with Ryou sitting down next to her. She took a deep breath again and looked at him.  
"I was just wondering why you never came to visit. I hope I'm not being rude and I can understand if you were busy." She said to him, a sad looking smile on her face. Ryou looked at her and shook his head; it was almost as if he was having a battle inside his mind. One of guilt and fear.  
"It's not that, you see I haven't been visiting because of this." He began explaining as he grabbed his millennium item off the coffee table. Poppy didn't know why she didn't see it there and became slightly confused.  
"The spirit that was helping Regret lives in here again. I was afraid that if I was near you during the time you were in hospital than he might have taken advantage of that and used you to get to Yugi again. I couldn't risk that." He said, putting the item down again and handing his head low. Poppy was confused, but she placed a hand onto his shoulder.  
"You stuck by me, so I'll stick by you no matter what happens." She said to him making him bring his head back up. Poppy smiled at him making Ryou smile back. Ryou pulled Poppy into a hug; he didn't want to hug too tightly in case it hurt her as she still had stitched in her sides.  
"Thank you, it means a lot to me." He said as Poppy hugged him back tightly nodding her head into his shoulder. He smelt nice, she'd give him that. Poppy could feel Ryou pull back slightly making her raise an eyebrow in slightly confusion. He looked away slightly as if embarrassed about something, before moving his face closer hers and joining his lips onto hers whilst closing his eyes. It took Poppy by surprise more than anything, however she begun kissing him back and closing her eyes. He held her hand as he did. She was surprised, his lips were warm. She expected them to be cold if anything due to how pale his skin was. The brunette felt embarrassed as she mentally admitted that she had fantasized that a little bit to herself. Ryou soon pulled away with a small smile on his face as he leaned his forehead onto hers. Poppy smiled back at with a small shy smile.  
"I love you." He said to her in a whisper. Poppy felt her face heat up and replied to him herself.  
"I love you to." She said as he pulled her into another hug, this time a little tighter. Poppy hugged him back, feeling the warmth of the hug.

She was glad she met the white haired boy with the stunning brown eyes.

_End._


End file.
